24 Hours
by Sayomina
Summary: The Enterprise was the greatest ship there was. Until a little prototype Miranda class joined her side. Brave heroes and unlikely friends band together. The clock is ticking.
1. The Avenger

**A/N: Hello everyone that happened to stumble across this page. For those who follow me, this probably wasn't what you were expecting. Writer's block happens to exist and my muse finally decided it was done throwing ideas at me then giving me no desire to write. So this happened. A Star Trek Avengers crossover set completely in the Star Trek universe. Fun times. I'll probably change the change the character's point of view the story is being told from, from time to time. Probably from only about 3 characters though. Anyways hope you all enjoy.**

* * *

Everyone had always thought the Enterprise had the wildest, bravest crew and was best ship. It was like that for 3 years until the Enterprise found herself stuck in a sticky situation that Starfleet wouldn't pull her out of. Then a little prototype Miranda class vessel was stolen by the crew being trained to pilot her and they rescued the Enterprise. Though this prototype Miranda class ended up with some casualties. She lost her Captain; Captain Fury, first officer Commander Colson, and a few others but the brave team was honored for their victory. Starfleet decided to have the small Miranda class accompany the Enterprise into the depths of space, where they would be out of the way from endangering earth. The crew of the Miranda were assigned a new captain and first officer, then they choose the name of their ship. The USS Avenger.

* * *

Late. First day as captain of the ship that was to accompany Starfleet's flagship, and he, Anthony Edward Stark, was late to his brand new ship. Maybe he was late and hungover because he'd stayed up late drinking and mulling over the fact that he, perhaps the most renowned engineer in Starfleet next to Scotty, had just been assigned to captain a prototype ship. It was probably because of his ability to make quick decisions and how he'd started going for training as a captain before switching to an engineer, but who really cared.

Tony nearly tripped as he ran towards the Avenger when someone, who looked like the Enterprise's navigator, ran in front him through an intersection, probably also late. He smirked before quickly getting to the Avenger. As he boarded and walked through the deck halls to the bridge he had to admit, it was rather strange boarding a ship and wearing a yellow shirt instead of a red shirt. He stepped onto the bridge and it became quiet as everyone stared at him.

There was a moment of silence before the red headed navigator chick spoke up, "Captain on the bridge," She said with a faint Russian accent before everyone went back to their preparations and murmuring.

Tony awkwardly walked over to the captain's chair and sat down. Why was everyone up tight? He knew that the lose of some of the original crew had had a large effect on the Avenger's crew but come on. That was no merit for everyone having to be boring.

"Commander on the bridge," The navigator spoke up at the sound of the bridge door opening and she didn't even bother to look and see who it was. She just knew. It was slightly creepy. Actually, very creepy in Tony's opinion. Why did Kirk get the cute puppy Russian. He wanted the cute puppy Russian.

Tony turned, or at least tried to, to see who it was that was this commander that had come in. He had to do a double take as he looked the Vulcan like commander up and down.

Long black hair, slicked back. Piercing green eyes. Pale skin. Thin, pursed lips. Blue shirt and black pants slightly snug in all the right places. Tony was lost in a fantasy with just how hot this commander was.

His train of thought nearly exploded when the commander spoke, "Captain," silky, elegant voice with just the right edge to it. Tony was practically in love. Though, it was probably more like lust but whatever.

"Commander," Tony smiled, flashing his infamous playboy smile. The one that was more infamous than Kirk's, "I was told my first officer would be a commander and a science officer. I really hope you're him because I would love to spend a lot of time with you," Tony winked. He could practically feel the navigator and pilot rolling their eyes from all the way over here.

If the commander could straighten his posture anymore, he just did, "Commander Laufeyson, chief science officer, and assigned first officer reporting for duty Captain," He said, almost like a machine.

"Well then, first officer Laufeyson, looks like I'm Kirk and you get to be my Spock," He flirted, resting his elbow on his chair arm and his chin on the palm of his hand. He was going to get 'Commander Laufeyson' to blush one way or another. To see if he was really a Vulcan because there was no way Laufeyson was going to let him move his hair with that attitude, and he wanted to do it for something of a personal achievement.

Commander Laufeyson showed no reaction to Tony's words and simply, briskly walked over to his station on the bridge. Tony was slightly disappointed at this. Any reaction from the commander would've been better than that.

A blonde communications officer spoke up, "Captain, message from the Enterprise. Shall I put it on the screen?" She asked. It seemed she was aware Tony had little experience as a captain, though after a second and recognizing her voice, Tony realized why she knew.

"Yes Lieutenant Pots," Tony said, referring to someone by their name as well as rank, without being told, for the first time since boarding. He and Lieutenant Pepper Pots had been a thing on and off at the academy before she'd went off to join some special program. Guess this was where she'd ended up. Maybe he'd pursue her again.

Pepper broadcasted the transmission on the view screen and Kirk's face filled the screen, "Looks like the Avenger got her new captain. We'll have to do lunch sometime," The Enterprise captain grinned.

"I'd be honored. As long as you don't mind me dragging along my first officer," Tony chuckled. Though he decided that some business needed to happen or the two would chat for hours, "Are we ready to depart?" He asked.

"The Enterprise is ready. And I'll add that lunch date to my calendar. We can make it a double date," Kirk laughed, clearly already liking Tony. And also implying that he was going to bring Spock along to this lunch date that was being planned.

"The Avenger is ready," Tony said after getting some approving nods from a few of the members on the bridge, "Stark out," He said before the transmission ended, "Navigator, plot a course to follow the Enterprise. Pilot, ease out at quarter impulse then follow the Enterprise at whatever warp speed she chooses," He then ordered.

"Aye aye captain," the navigator and pilot replied in unison. Tony needed to find out more about those two. They were creepy. But now he had to focus on the fact that he was in charge of an entire ship and where they were going. He settled into his seat. It was going to be a long day.

* * *

Loki walked briskly through the halls of the last ship he ever wanted to be on, memorizing the layout while he had a moment of peace and free time. He'd already been on the bridge but the Captain hadn't been there which is what brought him to where he was now.

Spotting a long pony tail of dirty blonde hair he ducked into the nearest room which happened to be sick bay. The reason he'd hid was that the ponytail had belonged to his _brother_ Thor. A more accurate description of their sibling relationship was that he was adopted and had left Thor and his parents after finding out. He hadn't seen Thor since but he had known that Thor was on this Miranda class ship. The last thing he wanted now was to run into Thor.

He broke away from his train of thought when a young nurse cleared her throat, "How may I help you?" She asked, already knowing he wasn't on medical staff

Her eyes were dark, black one might say, and she could've been mistake for a Vulcan or half Vulcan if it wasn't for the fact that Loki felt her trying to prod into his mind. He quickly blocked her and raised an eyebrow. So she was a betazoid, "I was simply learning the layout of the ship," He answered calmly.

Her surprise that he'd been able to block her was evident. Yes there were species betazoids like herself couldn't read, but she'd heard of no case where they'd been blocked, "Of course. Forgive me. Doctor Banner is in his office if you wish to speak to him."

"Thank you, but I will be leaving for the bridge now," Loki said, clasping his hands behind his back, "But I do recommend you do not go prying into people's minds," He said before walking out, leaving the stunned nurse behind.

He briskly walked to the bridge and walked through the door. The navigator announced that he was on the bridge and the Captain turned to face him, "Captain," He said, standing tall with his hands clasped behind his back.

"Commander," The Captain said, smiling. Loki was unsure if it was supposed to be a flirting smile, "I was told my first officer would be a commander and a science officer. I really hope you're him because I would love to spend a lot of time with you," The Captain winked. Loki was sure the navigator and pilot were rolling their eyes.

Loki straightened his posture a bit more, "Commander Laufeyson, head science officer, and assigned first officer reporting for duty Captain," He said, almost like a machine. He decided to keep an emotionless appearance.

"Well then, first officer Laufeyson, looks like I'm Kirk and you get to be my Spock," The Captain was certainly flirting at this point, resting his elbow on his chair arm and his chin on the palm of his hand. Whatever his plans with flirting were it wasn't going to work.

Loki allowed himself to show no reaction to the Captain's words and simply, briskly walked over to his station on the bridge. He caught a glimpse of the Captain's disappointment. He kept his little feeling of smugness to himself as he reviewed what was up on his station.

Soon the Enterprise hailed them and a short conversation was made between the two captains, the two ships were on their way. Loki made note that the Captain seemed to already know the communications officer on duty, and that the two captains had created plans they were going to drag their first officers into. That meant him. This was going to be a long journey.


	2. The Crew

**A/N: Totally listened to 24 by Jem on repeat while writing this. This is mostly a who's who of the Avenger crew. Miranda class are small ships with small crews of 26-35, so there's a total of 26 crew members with room to pick up new members and maybe kill off some of the current crew. Also for Sam and Rhodey, they're positions could be interchangeable. I just wanted to put them somewhere with weapons but not security. I just didn't like the idea of putting them in security.**

* * *

The USS Avenger pushed forward at a comfortable pace side by side with the Enterprise as the travelled forward, beginning their five year mission together. Space, the final frontier, exploring the unknown, and all that.

It was all fine and dandy but Tony found himself quickly becoming bored and had started spinning in his Captain's chair. Which he was elated to find that it did swivel and spin. Though after a few minutes several of the crew members glared at him so he stopped. He grabbed his PADD and decided to review the crew files so he knew who was who.

First was Commander Loki Laufeyson. His file was really empty. First officer of the USS Avenger, yep. Head science officer. However age and species were listed as confidential and apparently being captain wasn't high enough clearance. This annoyed Tony. Maybe it was because he was too new of a captain. He'd get to the bottom of this mystery though. The one things there was, was that for family he was listed as adopted and two of his adopted families members were onboard the ship. How interesting.

Continuing with people on the bridge was Lieutenant commander Natasha Romanoff. Human, age 32, single and sexy, and the primary navigator for the ship. Though given the minimalist style crew, the only navigator.

Her partner in crime was the pilot, Lieutenant Clint Barton. A human of the good old age of 46. He had a wife and kids on one of the space stations in the Alpha quadrent. And fun fact, he was an archer. Actually, as Tony read through the crew files he had to note that most of the crew had some form of combat training. Maybe there was something super-secret about the reason for the Miranda class and this particular crew that had been chosen.

Next was Pepps, well Lieutenant Pepper Pots, the communications officer. Tony just briefly skimmed over her file since he already knew pretty much everything there was to know about her.

Tony hummed as he moved onto the tactical officers file. Samuel Wilson, human, age 38, and interestingly he was actually a sergeant lieutenant, having been a military officer before being selected for tactical for the USS Avenger.

Finally finished with the bridge crew Tony went through the security team. Security was co-lead by Commander Steve Rogers and Commander James Barnes. Both had classified ages, though both were listed as human, with the exception of Barnes being cybernetic human with a mechanical arm. Tony frowned at the classified age part. Seriously? What was with this classified stuff? He was the dang captain of this ship.

Tony moved on to the other security officers. Lieutenant Commander T'challa, an African human, seemed to be an interesting guy. But continuing on, Tony couldn't help but smiling when he saw that Lieutenant Commander Happy Hogan, who was human, was the security supervisor. He had another friend aboard.

Then there was also Thor Odinson. Thor was half human, half Klingon. And he was also listed as Loki's brother, through adoption of course. Tony chuckled. Now he knew what source to go to for information on Loki. Though there was that classified age again and Tony was pretty much ready to go to Starfleet and demand to know why there was personal file information that was classified from him.

Finishing up with the security personal files Tony looked over their medical personal. Bruce Banner was a human, age 47, and the head of medical. He was also the head doctor and the psychologist on board. Which was interesting seeing as Banner suffered some anger issues but it had no effect on his skill and capabilities as a doctor.

Banner's partner in crime was a Bajoran surgeon by the name of Strange. A spiritual fellow. And their helper, aka nurse, was a betazoid who went by the name of Wanda Maximoff. She had a twin brother on the ship as well. Tony didn't really know anything about betazoids so he'd have to look into it.

Medical staff seemed a little small but by the looks of it, as Tony continued reading, there was a decent sized engineering crew. Tony couldn't help but grin when he read the name of the person in charge of weapons and combat in engineering. Guess he'd rubbed off on his best friend enough to land him in engineering. Though, in a logical situation Tony did have to admit he was the one that should be in engineering and Rhodey was the one that should be sitting in the Captain's chair. But at least Rhodey was on the ship. Tony felt a little better knowing he had his friends onboard and didn't have to completely make new friends.

Tony tried hard not to skim as he went through the files but there were honestly a lot of files. He tried focusing on reading the engineering files. Ensign Pietro Maximoff, Nurse Maximoff's twin, was over electrical engineering. Some Trill Lieutenant named Kurt was over IT engineering. Lieutenant Scott Lang, a human, was over equipment and vehicles. Though it was mostly equipment given how small the ship was.

Then there was the Dyne's and Pym. Lieutenant Commander Janet Von Dyne was an Elaysian over life support, and her daughter, Lieutenant Hope Von Dyne, who happened to be half human, half Elaysian was over propulsion in engineering. It was Hope's father, Commander Hank Pym, that was the head of engineering. Tony thought it was kind of cute that there was a little family basically running engineering. He pushed away thoughts of family when dark thoughts started poking at his mind.

Tony tried to finish up the rest of the files as quickly as possible. There were a couple science officers other than Loki. Jane Foster, human, over saw computing and mathematics, while a human teenager, like seriously only 17, over saw biology and physics. Peter Parker to be exact. Tony had to admit though, the kid was smart. Too bad he wasn't a Russian puppy.

Tony was slightly surprised when he found out they actually had an astrometrics. Astrometrics was run by a human ensign, Darcy Lewis. And Vision. The only thing not classified on Vision's file was his name. Tony was about ready to throw his PADD after seeing that. All these classifieds were ticking him off. What was it with this ships crew?

Tony pushed forward and got to the last file. Ah, the ship's counselor. Lieutenant Commander Frigga. It was slightly odd that a ship like this would have a counselor but here one was. Perhaps the most renowned counselor in all of Starfleet. Frigga was known for her limitless kindness and motherliness, yet that fire of bravery. And it just so happened that she was Thor's mother, his human half, and Loki's adopted mother.

Tony made a mental note that nearly everyone on board seemed to be family or friends with someone else on board. He bet that Starfleet did that on purpose. For whatever the purpose of this little ship was. He checked the time then close his PADD display and stood up.

"Commander Laufeyson, please join me in my quarters in half an hour for dinner," Tony requested, clasping his hands behind his back all proper like before leaving the bridge and heading for his quarter. It was the beginning of the night cycle and he was hungry. So dinner it was, and he'd requested for Loki to join him so he could try and get to know the man. And while he could've made the request an order, that felt like abusing his power. But now he had to focus on coming up with dinner.

* * *

Loki had been working at his science station on the bridge since they had departed. Mostly there was just some getting used to the layout as the station wasn't quite the same as the Crossfield class that he was used to. But perhaps that was because Crossfield class were designed specifically for just science while this Miranda class ship seemed to be partially science vessel, partially supply ship. But she was rather well armed which made Loki slightly suspicious.

Loki glanced up when the Captain stood up. It was just around the beginning of the night cycle. Then the Captain requested he join him in his quarters for dinner. Loki opened his mouth to say something but the Captain had quickly left.

Loki sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He supposed he should go for dinner as requested. Though it wasn't a direct order, just a request. Nevertheless, he wanted on the Captain's good side. He didn't need any incidents happening like on the Caelestis.

Just before the designated half hour, Loki stood up and briskly walked off the bridge. He headed to the Captain's quarters. He was slightly unsure as to whether this was a good idea but right at the designated half hour he knocked on the Captain's door. Perhaps punctuality would save him.

He heard the tell tail sound of the Captain's voice shouting come in and stepped inside once the computer opened the door. The Captain was busy setting the dining table that was in his quarters, "Commander Laufeyson, glad you could make it," The Captain visibly perked up when he saw Loki, "Almost ready. It took me longer than anticipated to choose what to make. And then I had to steal a bottle of Burgundy from Lieutenant Pots. Don't worry though, she owed me. You know, I was almost tempted to see if Lieutenant Commander Romanoff had anything good then I realized if she did have anything it was probably all vodka and that wasn't going to do," The Captain rambled slightly as he finished setting the table, "Have a seat," He gestured to one of the chairs.

Loki walked over to the seat the Captain had gestured to and moved to sit down. He was able to glean from the Captain's ramblings that the Captain knew Lieutenant Pots, the communications officer. And one other thing, "If you are under the assumption that this is supposed to be a date, Captain Stark, might I advise-" Loki went silent when the Captain raised his hand.

"Please don't call me Captain Stark. Captain Stark was my father. Screw protocol, don't call me Captain Stark," The Captain seemed to get a bit darker, a little colder, "I prefer Tony, but if you have to be more formal than Anthony. Also, drop the Captain when we're not working. Anyways, this isn't a date, just a nice dinner between the Captain and his first officer," Anthony smiled, the previous coldness replaced by his normal happiness like it had never been there in the first place. He settled down at his seat.

"Very well… Anthony," Loki frowned slightly, mentally. What happened to Anthony to make him, dare he say, despise his own last name? Loki would have to do some researching into Anthony's life If he was going to find out.

Anthony poured them each a glass of wine, keeping a bright smile, "I hope you like it. It's an Earth dish. I wasn't sure what you'd like so I just made something I liked. Chicken tortellini."

Loki nodded and served himself a small portion of the meal. He guessed that Anthony wasn't high enough to have the clearance to view his species information. That was fine. He'd prefer if Anthony never knew. It wasn't something he liked people knowing about. He hated himself for what he was, for the mistake he was.

Anthony served himself and started eating. He stopped and looked at Loki, noticing that he seemed to be lost in thought, "So," Anthony started, "What do you think? Is it good?" He asked.

Loki looked at Anthony, "Indeed," He set his fork down, having only taken one bite, "Forgive me if it seems rude that I'm not eating a lot. I do not require as much sustenance and sleep as humans do," Loki let it slip that he wasn't human. That was fine. There were plenty of humanoid species that he could be. Though any of Anthony's guesses would be wrong.

Anthony nodded, "That's fine," He made no comment about the fact that Loki had just revealed that he wasn't human. Anthony just assumed Loki was probably Vulcan. It made sense.

Dinner continued in relative silence. Yes, they were supposed to be getting to know each other. But Loki kept to himself and Tony was slightly too awkward to keep trying and make conversation. Soon dinner was over. Loki was quick to say goodbye then leave. He returned to the bridge, thinking over a few things. What was this journey going to bring?

* * *

 **A/N: Looks like were starting to find out little things about our to main Avenger crew members. The ever so mysterious Commander Laufeyson and the flirty Captain Anthony who allears to have a mysterious past. On another note, Miranda class have standard weapon systems. Phasers, photoncannons. Which is actually not typically found on a primarily sience vessel. Like the Crossfield class for example. So what is the purpose of our little Miranda and her crew. As for the Caelestis, that's a ship I made up and you'll find out more about her in a later chapter. And yes, I refer to starships as her.**


	3. Aww, You do Feel Emotions

**A/N: This is a mostly fluffy chapter with some more insight on Tony and Loki, with their backgrounds and who they are. Don't worry though; I have big plans for the plot. Just going to slowly ease into it until it suddenly punches everyone in their faces. BWAHA. Anyways, enjoy.**

* * *

The next day the two ships had reached their starter destination and slowed down so that the science officers and the Miranda's astrometrics could start running scans.

Tony had to admit, he was slightly jealous of the Enterprise's crew. The massive ship had plenty of crew to do rotations but the Miranda was a tiny almost minimalist crew. Early to rise late to bed. Some didn't even sleep just to take care of the Avenger. Tony yawned, walking onto the bridge with a coffee in hand. He watched as Barton relieved Natasha from her post so she could get a few hours of sleep. Pepper also had a coffee. Wilson looked a little tired but ready for the day. And of course, lo and behold, Loki looked perfectly fine even though the logs clearly showed that he had been working all night. Seriously, who was this guy?

"Captain on the bridge," Natasha announced as she walked past him on her way off the bridge. Tony smiled tiredly at her. He wondered if he'd actually gotten any sleep last night. No, wait, he hadn't. He'd spent the night cycle working on an AI for the ship, which he could later make into an emergency hologram for various jobs on the ship. He'd considered working on his other project, but he decided the AI was more important.

Tony plopped down in his captain's chair and sipped his coffee, "Any news from the Enterprise?" He asked, really wanting something to happen. He wanted an adrenalin rush to help wake him up. And there wasn't a gym, not that he'd go to a gym anyways.

"No word from communications," Pepper replied. "Commander Spock and I have been comparing notes and theories on a small nitrogen cluster not far from here," Loki spoke up.

"A nitrogen cluster. How interesting," Tony said blandly. He downed the rest of his coffee then slumped down in his chair. So this was what being a captain was like. It was horribly boring. He'd rather be getting dirty in engineering, but no, Starfleet had dropped him in the Captain's seat of the Avenger.

Tony slowly spun around in his chair while everyone else worked. This Miranda class was to minimalist and compact. There was no rec room he could go to and going to his room would probably be considered being a bad captain.

Then Tony got an idea. He jumped to his feet and walked quickly from the bridge and walked down to engineering. He was going to get to know his engineering crew. Just because he was an engineer at heart.

When he got to engineering he was greeted by Ensign Maximoff, "You're Anthony Stark! The famous engineer of the USS Palladian!" Maximoff shook Tony's hand enthusiastically, "It's an honor to meet you sir!" Maximoff stopped for a moment and realized that Tony was A, wearing a yellow shirt not a red shirt, and B, he had captain stripes, "Oh, so sorry Captain," He was embarrassed for having acted like that.

Tony just grinned, glad that someone recognized him for his engineering talents, "It's okay Ensign. I'd rather be here in engineering than up on the bridge as captain anyways," He admitted, "How is everyone in engineering doing?"

"Everything is functioning properly and the crew is doing rotations due to the fact that at the moment we only need to focus on checking for problems at the moment. And we all already know her inside and out we can easily say that everything is in peak condition," Parker reported, bouncing on his heels slightly.

Tony's shoulders slumped slightly. He was jealous that the engineering crew had it easy right now. But with the Enterprise's reputation alone that wouldn't last very long. And then there was the fact that everyone seemed to know exactly how the ship ran, except for him. Even Loki seemed to have a better understanding of the ship than he did. He knew nothing about the ship or how the crew worked, "Thank you for the report enisgn," Tony said then briskly turned and walked out of engineering.

He walked to his room, not even bothering to check and see how the bridge was doing. That would normally be a bad idea but this crew seemed to be able to function perfectly fine without him.

He pulled out his bag of tools out from under his bed and over to a sheet that looked like it was covering a statue. He removed the sheet then set to work on his project, loosing himself in his work because he needed a distraction.

An hour later while working with a blowtorch Tony accidentally burned his hand on hot metal. It was only a second degree burn though. It could've been worse. Tony sighed and got up, leaving his room and heading to sick bay. He was careful with his hand as he made his way to sick bay.

Walking into sickbay Nurse Maximoff eyed his hand then walked into Doctor Banner's office after pointing at a spot for Tony to sit down. Tony sat down without saying anything, keeping his injured hand from touching anything.

Doctor Banner walked out of his office and over to Tony, with Nurse Maximoff going back to what she had been working on. Banner looked at Tony's hand and sighed, "Second degree burn. Given by your calm demeanor and the fact that you seem to know what you're doing, I'd guess that this is a normal occurrence for you," He grabbed a medical device.

"A little more often then I'd like to admit. Don't worry, I'll try to not make it a common occurrence," Tony said, "Just fix me up and I'll be out of your way," He held his injured hand out for Banner to repair.

* * *

Loki walked to the sick bay to request a sample of a virus from Bolarus IX. He had clearance to test nonfatal virus strains on himself to learn what could affect him. When he got to sick bay he wad surprised to see Anthony with Doctor Banner.

He walked over briskly to see what had happened to the Captain and was again surprised when he saw that Anthony had burned his hand with second degree burns. How that was possible he didn't want to know. He took Anthony's hand gently, seeing as how Doctor Banner seemed perfectly fine with him doing so, probably because Banner assumed he would reprimand Anthony.

But Loki let go only seconds after he'd taken Anthony's hand because green whisps were trying to escape from his hands towards Anthony's injury. Luckily Banner hadn't been paying attention and Anthony was too busy staring at Loki's face to pay attention. The only person that noticed was nurse Maximoff, who looked up for a brief second before looking back at her work.

Loki straightened his posture and clasped his hands behind his back. He made his face expressionless as to not give away any more emotions, "I see you have foolishly injured yourself while away from the bridge. I would highly recommend you avoid injuring yourself," He stated.

Anthony ony just grinned, "Aww, you do feel emotions. Maybe you aren't completely Vulcan than. That just means I have a better chance of successfully flirting with you," Anthony winked. Loki honestly didn't know why the Captain insisted on flirting with him. It was embarrassing.

Loki turned away and stepped towards the door as Banner moved in and healed Anthony's injuries. A faint blue blush rose to Loki's cheeks for some reason but he quickly pushed it away, his skin pale as ever.

Doctor Banner finished fixing up Anthony's hand then bandaged because where the injury had been would be soft and easily irritated for a couple of days, "Commander Laufeyson, please escort the Captain to where ever he needs to go."

"Of course Doctor. Thank you," Loki said, "Come Captain. It is best if we return to the bridge," Loki walked out of the sick bay with a less than happy captain following him. By the way Anthony was pouting it seemed that he didn't want to go to the bridge. Nevertheless, that was where Loki was taking him, because it was where he belonged. Loki was wondering how Anthony had hurt himself, but he was also beginning to see that Anthony seemed to be a lot more like Kirk than the crew might've liked.

* * *

Spock walked down the corridors, towards his quarters, reading a message from Commander Laufeyson about the nitrogen cluster they had been studying. He wasn't paying attention to where he was going, focused on the scientific content within the message.

Spock suddenly stopped when someone grabbed his shoulders right in front of him. He looked up from his PADD to see that it was Captain Kirk that had grabbed his shoulders. It also seemed that he had nearly run into the captain. That was illogical. He should've been paying attention to where he had been walking instead of reading the message.

"Are you okay Spock?" Kirk asked, slightly concerned. It wasn't normal for the Vulcan to be distracted and he wanted to make sure Spock was okay, in case whatever the Vulcan was reading was some sort of tragic news. He really hoped it wasn't tragic news.

"I am fine Captain. Forgive me though. It seems that I was distracted by the message I had received from Commander Laufeyson. We have been working on studying a nearby nitrogen cluster," Spock stated, clasping his hands behind his back while keeping a firm grip on his PADD.

"Okay. If that's just what it is," Kirk chuckled. Spock had gotten all sciency and distracted. It was admittedly kind of cute, "Go have fun with your new science buddy, being all cute and sciency," Kirk grinned. Oh he was definitely telling Stark about this. The great renowned Commander Spock had gotten distracted because of science.

Spock huffed a bit, moving his hands to infront of himself and gripping his PADD as he moved past Kirk. He briskly walked towards his quarters, the tips of his ears turning a light shade of forest green. Yes, he was embarrassed by what Kirk had said. It was an illogical and emotion based statement. Spock didn't like it.

Kirk grinned when he saw the tips of Spock's ears, "Aww, you do feel emotions," Kirk snickered as Spock walked into his quarters. If the ship's doors could be slammed then Spock probably would've done just that. Kirk found it absolutely hilarious.


	4. Class Lava

**A/N: Some things may not be realistic on Earth but space and alien worlds**

* * *

Tony and Kirk passed the next very dull week by sending messages to each other and messing with their first officers. Then the two ships came across a small class L planet. Spock determined that there were animal life signs, but no identifiable intelligent life forms, and Loki determined there were valuable resource deposits.

Now that they'd determined to send an away team, since the planet looked safe, the two captains argued about whom to send on the away team. It was obviously my ship crew is better than yours bickering.

"Obviously I should lead an away team composed of Enterprise members," Kirk said, his face displayed on the view screen of the Avenger Bridge. Kirk and Tony were currently in a heated discussion through a transmission.

"The Avenger crew is just as capable if not more so than your Enterprise crew. I should be leading an away team composed of Avenger crew members to the planets surface," Tony countered. This was less of a fight and more of a sibling squabble. Nevertheless, it was annoying the bridge crews of both ships. Even the two emotionless science officers were slightly irked.

"Fighting is illogical," Loki stated, "Perhaps it would be wiser to take crew from both ships for the away team." Tony stopped and looked at Loki, partially confused but also understanding the logic in what he said.

"I agree," Spock spoke up, "It would be most logical to have crew members from both ships as everyone has different skills to contribute," Kirk looked at Spock with a 'why are on their side?' expression. Spock ignored Kirk and continued, "Might I suggest the captains, first officers, a security officer from the Miranda, and a doctor from the Enterprise."

Tony leaned back in his chair, "I can't argue with the logic of probably the two smartest men in Starfleet. Alright. I'm fine with it as long as Kirk has no objections," He said, glancing at Loki for a moment before focusing his attention once again on the view screen.

Kirk sighed, giving into the idea from the first officers, "Fine. I trust you Spock so if that's the logical idea then that's what we'll go with," Kirk crossed his arms, leaning back in his chair.

Tony couldn't help but smile at the first officers' victory, "We'll see you on the planet's surface. Stark out," He had Pepper end the transmission before getting up. Tony walked towards the transporter room with Loki following him.

Once in the transporter Tony remembered he needed to grab a security officer. And there just so happened to be one passing by, "Lieutenant Odinson! We need a security officer to join the away mission. Would you care to join us?" Tony did notice how Loki stiffened slightly.

"I would be glad to accompany you," Thor said, walking over to where Tony and Loki were on the transporter pads. He glanced at Loki but the two didn't say anything to each other. Tony noticed the invisible tension.

Tony decided to just get down to the planet's surface. He tapped his comm, "Bridge, beam us down to the coordinates Commander Spock gave," He ordered before preparing to be beamed down. He didn't like beaming. He didn't do it often, and it made him slightly queasy.

The three Avenger officers were beamed down to the planet's surface where Captain Kirk, Commander Spock, and Doctor McCoy were waiting for them, "Glad you finally decided to join us," Kirk said.

"Wouldn't have missed it," Tony countered with just as much cockiness as Kirk had used. He didn't notice Loki position himself so that if Thor attempted to talk to him, he could use Tony as a shield. Kirk noticed but didn't say anything.

"Well then, let's start surveying the land," Kirk said, leading the group. Tony walked on one side of Kirk, with Spock on the other side, and Loki trailing close to Tony. McCoy walked by Thor, the two leading up the end of the group.

It wasn't long before the group came across a field of stone and rocks, with a giant black bubble shape visible in the not so far distance. The area seemed safe enough so the group decided to split up. The Avenger crew went towards the bubble rock while the Enterprise crew started scanning for resources.

Tony pulled back out of ear shot from Loki and over to Thor after a minute of walking, "Lieutenant Odinson, what do you know about what Commander Laufeyson is? I am captain and it is important that I know these things," He added the captain part just to enforce that he better get an answer.

"I was never told what my brother is. All I know is that when he found out that he was adopted he became detached from the family, despite mine and our mother's efforts to keep him part of the family. I had not seen him until today since he left several years ago," Thor explained. Tony noted that Thor seemed to have no problem with sharing information and was rather open, "I am sorry I could not tell you what you wanted to know."

Tony sighed. He still didn't know what Loki was but he had a little bit more information on Loki. That was a little helpful. Maybe Lieutenant Commander Frigga would be able to tell him more about Loki, "It's okay Lieutenant. Thank you anyways."

"Captain!" Loki called to him from where he was over by the bubble. Tony nodded to Thor before hurrying over to Loki, wondering what it was that Loki wanted or had found out.

"What is it Commander?" Tony asked, nearly using Loki's actual name before remembering that he needed to remain professional with names in the current setting. That was one thing that annoyed him about Starfleet. It was the intense professionalism. For a moment Tony registered that the temperature was warmer over here.

"The internal temperature of this formation is much higher than the surrounding area. I am thinking that there is a hot spring or geyser within, but everything should be perfectly safe. I will have to run more scans to reach a conclusion, but-," Loki suddenly cut off when there was a crack in the formation that was glowing bright orange and pouring out heat. He grabbed Tony and dived to the side inside a small cave that had been formed by a pile of rocks.

Seconds later the bubble erupted. Chunks of dried lava went everywhere, a large piece blocking most of the exit. Lava poured out, quickly at first then slowly, but it wasn't long before any crack of sunlight was covered by hot lava. At least the lava cooled quickly. It left the air mostly clean but hot.

The heat was almost unbearable for Tony and he knew he wouldn't be able to stay conscious for long due to the heat if they were stuck in the cave for long. He gripped Loki's arm, actually afraid of what might happen.

* * *

Kirk was bored. Spock had insisted on surveying a rock formation that may contain valuable minerals. McCoy was helping Spock so Kirk was left all alone. Kirk perked up, confused when The Avenger's security officer walked over, "Is everything okay? Where are Captain Stark and Commander Laufeyson?" He asked.

"Everything is fine. They are over by the bubble. I simply wished to check on you in case there was any danger," Thor explained, "I do hope I have not done something wrong."

"It's okay," Kirk said, looking over at the bubble. All of a sudden the ground shook and the bubble exploded, lava pouring from where the structure had been. Kirk reacted fast, tapping his comm, "Enterprise! Beam us up!" He shouted. Almost immediately the four were beamed up to the Enterprise.

Kirk took a moment to first notice that Captain Stark and Commander Laufeyson hadn't been beamed up by the Enterprise. The Avenger had probably gotten him. He tapped his comm as he walked over to where the people working at the transporter room station were, "Uhura, get me a channel to the Avenger," He ordered before waiting for her to confirm he had a channel to the Avenger. When she did he tapped he spoke again, "Avenger, this is Captain Kirk. Are Captain Stark and Commander Laufeyson aboard?"

"No sir," The communications officers responded, "We were hoping that they were with you," Kirk noted that she sounded concerned and wondered if she was a significant other to either the Captain or the Commander.

Kirk looked to the transporter room officers for answers. They were slightly frantic and one quickly answered, "We had a lock on their signal then seconds before the explosion it went fuzzy like they were entering a cave or tunnel that was blocking their signal. Their signal vanished when the explosion happened."

"They might still be alive," Kirk tapped his comm again, "Scotty, Chekov, I want you two to work together on doing whatever you have to do to find Captain Stark and Commander Laufeyson's signals. They have to be alive on the planet. Start your scans closest to the explosion," He ordered. If Stark and Laufeyson were still alive he was going to do everything he could to get them out alive.

* * *

Loki mentally cursed himself for not having noticed that the bubble was filled with lava sooner. If he had noticed he and Anthony wouldn't be stuck in this cave with no way of escaping. Both had already tried their comms with no success. There must be a mineral on this planet in the soil or rocks that blocked the frequencies.

Despite the nearly pitch black darkness, he could tell that Anthony was starting to sweat because they were clinging to each other. Loki was irritated by the heat and knew it may cause some issues but he'd survive it. Even if the oxygen dwindled he currently had a much higher chance of survival than Anthony. But he wasn't just going to let his captain die.

Loki noticed that Anthony was starting to loose consciousness and tried to think of some way to keep him awake. That's when he noticed the faint blue glow penetrating Anthony's shirt. He placed his hand over it and felt the hum of what felt mechanical, "What is this?" He asked, hoping it was enough of a conversation starter to keep Anthony awake.

"Heh," Anthony chuckled a little, "That's my heart. It's what keeps me alive. Funny though, It almost killed me once until I fixed it. I thought it would still be the cause of my death. But looks like I'm going to die of heat stroke and suffocation in a cave with a Commander I barely know anything about and as the Captain of a newly infamous ship for just one week."

Loki noticed Anthony's head started to droop and clutched Tony closer to himself, "Stay with me Captain. Tell me more about your glowing heart," He tried to keep Anthony awake but it was no use and Anthony slipped into unconsciousness.

Loki held Anthony close and decided that there was one thing he had to do to keep Anthony alive. The one thing he never thought he'd have to do.

* * *

"I got them! I got them!" Chekov exclaimed excitedly, practically bouncing up and down when after a couple hard hours he locked onto Captain Stark and Commander Laufeyson's signal. He quickly beamed them aboard the Enterprise.

Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Thor, Sulu, practically everyone on the Enterprise had been waiting by the transporter room in anticipation for Chekov and Scotty to find Captain Stark and Commander Laufeyson.

McCoy rushed over to where Stark and Laufeyson were clutching each other on the transporter pad floor, "I need a stretcher and oxygen tanks!" He ordered.

Loki blinked, opening his eyes slightly when Tony was pried from his arms. He had lowered his heartbeat rate and breathing to the point where he was partially unconscious to conserve oxygen for Tony. The two still needed oxygen tanks though.

McCoy got Stark and Laufeyson rushed to sick bay. There was too much going on for anyone to notice that the few scraps and cuts Loki had, had dried blue blood on them. Not red.

Kirk got on the channel with the Avenger and told them the good news. There was relief from Lieutenant Commander Pots but the Avenger crew seemed to be celebrating quitter than the Enterprise crew.

Chekov ran over to Sulu and hugged him. Sulu chuckled and hugged the excited Russian back, "Good job Chekov," Sulu said, grinning.

Chekov smiled brightly, with a hint of shyness. His cheeks were a faint red as he stared at Sulu with bright blue eyes. Chekov and Sulu stared at each other happily for a few minutes, silent.

Kirk noticed that Sulu and Chekov seemed to have some budding chemistry and tension between them. He grinned to himself. He was going to get together with some of the other crew members and get Chekov and Sulu to hook up. At least now everyone could relax.

* * *

Tony blinked, nearly blinded by bright white lights that belonged to a sick bay. He groaned a little and tried to sit up. He was light headed and dizzy at first but was able to sit up properly and look around. The first thing he noticed was that this was bigger than the Avenger sick bay which meant he was likely on the Enterprise.

His theory was confirmed when Doctor McCoy walked over, "It's good to see that you're awake. How are you feeling?" The doctor asked, pulling out his tricorder to scan Tony and see how he was doing.

"A little dizzy but otherwise I feel fine," Tony answered. He watched as McCoy scanned him, "What happened? I don't really remember what happened."

"You were on a class L planet and there was an eruption. Commander Laufeyson pulled you to safety. You'd be dead if it wasn't for whatever he did," McCoy said, finishing his scan, "You look good. I'll let the captain know then you can return to your ship," He walked off to tell Captain Kirk.

Tony slid to the edge of the bed, his legs dangling off. He looked up and smiled when Loki walked in, "Commander Laufeyson," He said, using formalities just in case.

"Anthony," Loki walked over and clasped his hands behind his back, "How are you feeling? You were asleep for nearly a day," He said.

Tony was slightly jealous that Loki was up and moving and seemed to be perfectly fine, while he had apparently been out for nearly a day, "I'm feeling pretty good. Thank you for saving me," Tony was slightly relieved that Loki was okay though. Given that they'd nearly died.

Loki nodded, "You are welcome," He said, "Since Doctor McCoy has released you I suggest we return to the Avenger," He suggested. He was glad that Tony was okay.

Tony nodded and let Loki help him stand. The two walked together to the Enterprise's transporter room where they beamed back to the Avenger. Both silently decided to never discuss what happened in the cave. Mostly because Tony didn't entirely remember and Loki didn't want to.


	5. Neutral Zone Tragedy

**A/N: This is where I diverge from full Star Trek canon in some things. It's still mostly canon though. Also, still listening to 24 by Jem on loop.**

* * *

Two weeks had passed in relative quite. However, after the Class L planet, no one particularly wanted anything to happen out of fear of another close call. The two ships had gotten close to the neutral zone where they were going to go widely around the boarders of neutral space and the Romulan Empire before continuing their journey into unknown space.

Tony was reading some reports when the lights suddenly went red and the ship jumped into warp. He looked up and almost all the crewmembers on the bridge seemed to have started working very hard, except for Loki who was just as confused as he was, "What's going on?" He demanded to know.

"Starfleet command has ordered for us to begin our mission into the neutral zone," Romanoff answered almost robotically, "We are to investigate the disappearance of several ships from various sectors into the neutral zone and the reappearance of the dead bodies of these crews. All other information is classified."

"What?! Going into the Neutral Zone is against Federation laws, and I was not aware of this mission. You can't withhold this sort of information from your captain," Tony snapped, "You will tell me all this classified information immediately, command override code, Stark-Alpha-six-nine-beta-" Tony was cut off from what he was saying when the ship suddenly lurched, having been suddenly stopped and pulled out of warp. Sparks from some of the stations flew due to the strain on the ship from the sudden stop. Tony stood up, looking at the large slightly Romulan ship that was in front of them. A ship much larger than the Avenger.

The ship lurched again and started moving towards the ship, "Captain, we're caught in a tractor beam. I can't pull us out," Barton said. Now everyone was frantic. This was definitely not good. Not good at all.

"For the record, this is all Lieutenant Commander Natasha Romanoff's fault for following Starfleet's orders and try to go through with an incredibly stupid mission," Tony noted. Today couldn't get any worse, and that was being completely honest because Tony had a feeling they were all going to die.

* * *

Kirk had been watching the view screen with intense boredness, watching the Avenger move through space just in front of and off to the side of the Enterprise. Everything changed however when the Avenger suddenly jumped into hyperspace, "What just happened? What's the Avenger doing?" He asked.

"I am unsure," Spock was the one to answer, "I am tracking their ion trail as far as I can and it appears that they have entered the Neutral Zone despite the fact that that is against Federation law," Spock looked to Kirk. Kirk could tell that Spock was thinking the same thing he was. That something was very wrong.

"Uhura, contact Starfleet and tell them that we believe that the Avenger has been compromised. Sulu, follow the Avenger's ion trail and bring us as close as you can without going into the neutral zone. Spock, try to keep track of where the Avenger is. We can't lose her," Kirk ordered before slumping back in his chair slightly. What was going on?

* * *

Okay, so maybe the day could get worse. The Avenger crew was forced off their ship into the brig of their captor's ship. Then they were taken to a desolate and uninhabited planet that Loki so helpfully identified as the lost planet Iconia.

Things only got worse when they were taken to a high security yet really old underground building and put into two cells. One for Tony and one for the rest of the crew. Needless to say, Tony wasn't happy about the current situation, especially because he had no idea where he crew was, since he'd been thrown into his cell first, and that he was separated from his crew.

Tony paced around the cell, getting a feel for how big the cell was, since it was mostly dark. He swore he was going to end up with a fear of small space and a fear of darkness by the time he got back to Earth. If he ever got back. He might not get back, but he had already made himself a promise. Every last one of his crew members were going to make it home. Even if it killed him trying to do so.

* * *

"What do you mean that's classified information and I'm not allowed to know!" Kirk shouted. They'd gotten ahold of Starfleet and now some Admiral Archer was telling him that the information pertaining to why the Avenger was in the neutral zone was classified, "Our friends are on board that ship and are more than likely going to end up dead if you don't tell us what's going on so we can go save them."

Admiral Archer sighed. He checked his data pad then sighed again. He'd just been given clearance to tell the Enterprise what was going on, "Three years ago a small Andorian trade ship vanished into the Neutral Zone. Three weeks later a border patrol ship found the ship torn to pieces and the crew floating dead in space near the border. There were signs of torture. It wasn't the Romulans. Since then small non Starfleet ships have gone missing into the Neutral Zone than showed up in similar ways. After the third ship Starfleet initiated Project S.H.E.I.L.D. which stands for Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics and Defense. The Miranda class was designed to act as a covert ship with a science vessel appearance and a weapons system built for accuracy and damage without being a heavy type vessel. The original crew was selected specifically for the mission to find out what was happening to the ships, and yes, they knew it was a suicide mission when they signed up. The plan had been for the crew and ship to join the Enterprise on her five year mission then divert for their mission but we underestimated the crew and you got in trouble. You know the rest. The Avenger is simply going through with her mission, despite the slight unprepared crew change."

Kirk stood up and paced for a moment before facing the view screen, "If what you say about there being something dangerous in the Neutral Zone then the Avenger is in trouble. We can't leave them there to die. Even if like you said, the original crew knew that it was going to be a suicide mission, what about Stark and Loki. I don't think they knew. But besides that, we still can't leave good member of Starfleet to die," He waved his hands slightly as he spoke.

"Starfleet will decide what actions to take if the Avenger does not report in within a week. However, you are under no circumstance allowed to go into the Neutral Zone and go after the Avenger. If you go into the Neutral Zone Starfleet will consider it to be a direct violation of orders and Federation laws. The punishment will be strict and there will not be any getting out of it, if you even survive long enough for the Federation to enact a punishment. Do you understand Captain Kirk? I know what you and you're crew are like, but you must not under any circumstance go looking for the Avenger and jeopardize her mission," Admiral Archer said.

Kirk sat down and crossed his arms, "Fine. Captain Kirk out," Uhura ended the transmission and everyone on the bridge turned to look at Kirk. He knew what they were thinking, "We're not going to leave the Avenger alone in the Neutral Zone, but we also can't go blindly into what is inevitably a suicide mission. We'll let Starfleet have their week and look for information in the meantime. If there are any objections speak up now and I'll make a note of it in the captain's log."

Spock walked over to stand by Kirk's side, "As a commander of Starfleet I must object to your plan as it violates orders. However, as your friend, I will stand by your side and support your decision," The Vulcan said calmly.

Kirk couldn't help but smile. Spock might be half Vulcan and all about protocol, but he was also half human, "Noted. Alright everyone, let's start looking for information about what we're up against," He gave the order then went quiet as everyone moved into action. Kirk just hoped that they wouldn't be too late if something happened to the Avenger.


	6. Bya, Bya

**A/N: This chapter gets dark. Reference to torture. So viewer digression I suppose. You have been warned. Also, as for the song I found it online and I don't know how accurate or real it is. I know it exists in at least one place.**

* * *

Tony smirked, licking away some specks of blood on his lips, "You really think that throwing a few punches at me will get me to break me for whatever the reason is that you've imprisoned me and my crew," Tony said, almost with the tone of a savage animal. He spat out a bit of blood and looked up to face the man that could only be their captor and the mastermind behind all this. He hadn't seen anyone else after all besides minions.

"I have not even begun to break you yet," The disfigured Romulan stated, walking away from Tony and over to a table of objects, waving his hands over the array of options he had. Tony was sitting on a chair, hands tied behind his back, watching this creep with a steely expression even though he knew he was very much helpless, "You will know when I begin to break you because the pain will be unimaginable."

Tony hissed as the Romulan moved faster than he could react and a fresh cut dripped blood down his cheek. He glared at the Romulan, determined to not give in, no matter what the Romulan did to him to try and get him to talk. But it only got worse.

* * *

Loki jolted up right from where he had been leaning against his mother, unsuccessfully trying to sleep, when there was a cry of pain. His face lost any color it had, actually gaining color in the form of a faint touch of blue. He knew who that cry had come from. He felt sick to his stomach and might've thrown up at the thought of what Tony was going through, if it hadn't been for the fact his stomach was empty. That didn't stop his body from reacting and dry heaving a little.

Loki stood up then leaned against the wall, trying to get rid of the dizziness and slight nausea. Frigga looked up at Loki with concern, knowing just like he did what was going on. Her sadness for not only Tony but for what Loki was probably feeling was evident on her face.

The rest of the 25 crew members present sat in relative silence, uncomfortable yet seeking the comfort they could in their family and friends. Natasha and Clint had been giving everyone the silent treatment while they contemplated what following orders had caused. Rhodey was comforting Pepper, who was often in tears, and Happy stayed by them, offering his friendship. Sam, Bucky, and Steve had stationed themselves closest to the door, strong physically and with their friendship. The three were ready to defend everyone else if needs be.

Darcy had found herself sticking with Jane and Jane was staying by Thor's side, while Thor had stationed himself sitting in front of Frigga and Loki. Loki didn't even care about what difficulties he and his family had. He was just grateful to have them here, yet also concerned for their safety.

Bruce and Strange had put themselves in charge of rationing out food and doing whatever they could to keep the crew in one piece. Wanda wasn't with them as they'd let her stay with her brother in one of the back corners. The two twins clung to each other, Pietro more protective of Wanda as she was currently being bombarded by the thoughts and feelings of the crew. What would normally be noted as interesting, but no one cared right now, was that Vision had taken up post, standing by the Maximoff twins as if protecting them. Peter was also in Vision's little group of the younger crew in the back corner that he was protecting. Though Peter mostly kept to himself, mumbling equations to keep to himself.

Kurt, Scott, Janet, Hope, and Hank and been spending their waking hours trying to find a way to escape from their cell, but so far the engineers had had no luck. Loki wished Tony was with them. He would have something clever to say to lift everyone's spirits or know some brilliant way that they could escape. It was Tony's personality.

The past two days had been rough of the crew. They were only being given meagre food portions twice a day. Thor, Vision, Bucky, and Steve had taken to eating only one of their portions so that others that weren't built up the way they were could have a little extra. Loki wasn't eating any of his portions, giving them to others. He didn't need to eat. He knew that with a little sleep he would be perfectly fine.

Loki started pacing trying to clear his mind from the negative thoughts brought on by the situation and tried to think of ways to support the crew and help. He was the first officer after all. He couldn't just let everyone suffer. Then he remembered something, perhaps childish but it may suffice to lighten the mood slightly.

"Bya, bya, barnet. Mamma nøster garnet. Pappa går til Langebro, kjøper barnet nye sko. Nye sko og spenner. Så sover barnet lenger," Loki began singing a Norwegian lullaby. Frigga and Thor joined in, singing it in English while Loki continued singing in Norwegian, "Lulla lullay child. Mommy is winding the yarn. Daddy goes to Longbridge, Buys the child new shoes. New shoes and buckles. Then the child will sleep longer."

One by one the crew joined in with the song in their native language once they'd translated it properly. It wasn't much, but it gave the crew something to do and lightened spirits a little.

* * *

Tony's head hung low, pain cutting through him from the cuts caused by the Romulan. The Romulan had left a couple minutes ago giving Tony a chance to breath. He needed it. Apparently the Romulan still had yet to be attempting to break him. He didn't want to know what that would be like.

Tony had buried all emotions deep inside him. But then he heard this strangest unified voice, echoing through the halls and reaching his cell. There was a light of hope in his heart. His crew was singing in unison, in all their different languages. It gave him the strength he needed to continue pushing forward

* * *

."So let me get thus straight," Kirk said, sitting in a bar with some alien or another across from him, "You and your crew will take part of my crew into the Neutral Zone in exchange for us protecting you from the danger in the Neutral Zone."

There was a serious of clicks then the alien nodded, "Yessss. Our trade vessssel wisssshesssss to passsssss through ssssssafely and we will help you collect information for protection."

Kirk didn't know if he'd be able to stay sane with all the hissing this alien's species made but this was the most useful help they'd gotten so far, "I'll send a security detail of three members, my best pilot to help with weapons systems, and two of my science officers for gathering information. Do we have a deal?"

The alien clicked and nodded and Kirk shook their hand, claws…. Kirk didn't entirely like this plan but it was the best they had so far and they needed something because Starfleet wasn't helping anytime soon. He just hoped the six officers he planned to send would be enough.

Kirk bid farwell after receiving a time and a place to meet the ship before he had the Enterprise beam him back up. He was glad to be back on his ship when he returned. He quickly made his way to the bridge.

"Alright crew," He said, clapping his hands together, "They've agreed to take a small team from our ship into the Neutral Zone in exchange for protection. If you are assigned to this mission you have till 8 o hundred hours to prepare," He quickly assigned three security officers and one sciencse officer before speaking again, "Spock, Sulu, I'm asigning you two to help on the mission.

Spock and Sulu nodded then quickl left the bridge. No one noticed Chekov's brief disappointment before he ran off, and now Kirk had to worry about the fact that he was sending some of his crew members into the Neutral Zone.

* * *

Sulu helped place the last of two equipment boxes in the alien ship that would be transporting them. Originally he thought there'd only be one box so he'd have to look in a moment.

Right now Sulu had to help the Aliens into the Neutral Zone. "We're ready to go into warp," He said, helping on the main bridge. At least he got to help pilot and use his skills.

Once in warp, Sulu returned to where the boxes were. He pried open the odd box. The last thing he'd been expecting happened and the head of his cute Russian puppy popped out.

Several crew members had drawn their guns and Chekov threw his hands into the air, "Don't shoot. Don't shoot. I am Enterprise crew member. I have come to help."


	7. Kneel, Before Your Queen

Everyone fell silent when there was a click then the door to their cell opened. Sam, Steve, and Bucky got ready to defend everyone and Loki stood by them. Maybe he could be a little helpful. He may not look as strong as them but that didn't mean he wasn't and if anything he could use _that_ , but it was best to avoid that.

An angry disfigured Romulan stepped in and immediately grabbed a handful of Loki's hair before anyone could stop him. Loki was grateful that at least the Romulan had gone after him and not anyone else. Loki was dragged out of the cell by his hair.

Loki didn't know where he was being taken since the way the Romulan was dragging him forced him to stumble along with his head down. It hurt a lot. He was going to have a headache after this. As long as nothing else happened that nulled the pain of a headache with more pain.

Finally they stopped and the Romulan forced him to his knees. Loki kept his head down, not in submission though. He also kept the palms of his hands flat on the ground, staying away from any sudden movements that might cause the Romulan to lash out and hurt him.

"Thank you Red Skull, you may return to whatever it was that you were doing," Whoever spoke had a silky and regal feminine voice, but there was also a darkness in her voice. Something about it was slightly familiar though.

Loki listened as the Romulan named Red Skull left the room. Then the woman walked around him, as if inspecting him. He stayed quiet, not wanting to aggravate her. So who ever this was must be the one who was in charge.

"You don't know how long I've waited for this day. To finally confront you after everything," The woman grabbed his neck, just under his chin, forcing him to look at her. Loki found his breath caught in his throat as he immediately recognized who she was.

"L-Leah? But you… I thought…" Loki was cut off when she threw him against the wall. He groaned, knowing that something was at least broken. He forced himself to look up at her from where he lay on the floor, mentally cursing the fact that she was half Klingon.

"Don't you dare try speak to me like that, like a concerned friend," Leah spat out, "You lost the right to be my friend when you let my family die, left me for dead! And I know what you're capable. You could've saved my family," She kicked him in the ribs and there was a definite crack, "If it wasn't for my lady I would be dead," She snarled, going to kick Loki again.

"Leah stop," A women walked in, "Don't hurt him too much," The woman walked over to Loki. Loki couldn't get a clear look at her as his vision was fuzzy from when Leah had kicked him and broken a couple of his ribs. The woman knelt down and placed her hand over his ribs and he cried out as everything snapped back into place. He panted, trying to figure out who this new woman was. She placed her hand on his forehead and suddenly he was really tired, "Now you know that you are up against someone who has more control over powers similar to yours that you have no control over. Soon you will understand your place and kneel, before your queen."

Loki went limp as darkness clouded his vision and he passed out, not knowing who this lady was but definitely knowing that he was never going to kneel to her. But the biggest problem was he didn't know how she knew about what he could do or how she had the powers she displayed.

* * *

Loki was dragged, unconscious, back to the cell where most of the Avenger crew was. Frigga was worried about him and Bruce quickly looked him over. All Bruce found was some bruising and evidence of ribs that had been broken then healed, which confused the doctor, but there was nothing they could do except wait for Loki to wake up and tell them what had happened.

* * *

Tony hurt everywhere. Well, almost everywhere. There had been some parts that had been sparred so far from this torture he was going through. He was hoping that it would stay that way. There were somethings he'd like if they were kept functional and in one piece.

His torturer, the disfigured Romulan, walked around him, not even slightly fazed by the small puddles of Tony's blood on the floor. Tony found that kind of disturbing, but then again, this was a psychopath. But Tony had noticed that his torturer methods were a little too precise for a normal Romulan. The Romulan leaned over him and Tony had to crane his neck in an awkward position to not cause himself too much pain and look at the Romulan, "Did you know that one of the most effective types of torture is supposed to be mental torture?" The Romulan asked, "I doubt you do, so why don't we try it out. You will have five minutes to choose one of your crew members then kill them or I will make you watch as I kill everyone in your crew one by one in the most brutal ways you could possibly imagine."

"No!" Tony shouted, jerking against the chains that held his arms back and to the chair, "Kill me instead!" He couldn't let any of his crew die. He couldn't fail them as a captain like that. For some reason though, it was the idea of watching the Romulan torture Loki and kill him slowly that terrified Tony the most.

"That's not an option. You're still needed. Five minutes," The Romulan released Tony, and Tony would've fought back if he wasn't so weak from the torture. The Romulan dragged him to the cell where the rest of his crew was and tossed him in.

"Captain?" Clint spoke for the first time when Tony was tossed in. Tony groaned, "Yep, here and mostly in one piece," He said trying to get up. Who was he supposed to pick to kill, how was he supposed to pick. His crew was all good people. Except maybe Natasha for getting them into this mess, but he wasn't going to pick her.

Bruce rushed over to Tony and grimaced, "I don't have supplies to treat any of this," He said, "We could make makeshift bandages out of shirts but that might cause a problem later…" Bruce frowned, his hands hovering over Tony slightly.

"I'll be fine," Tony scanned the room and his gaze rested on Lieutenant Commander Frigga and Loki. Loki looked to be asleep with his head in Frigga's lap while she stroked his hair. Tony swallowed. Frigga was the ship's counselor. Maybe she would be able to help him, "Lieutenant Commander Frigga, may I talk to you for a minute?" He requested, moving over to a slightly more secluded area of the cell.

Frigga nodded and Thor took her place as she got up and went over to Tony, "What's wrong Anthony? I know nothing's okay and there must be a reason why you asked to talk to me specifically, so what's the matter?" She asked, taking his hands in a comforting, motherly way.

Tony sighed, "The Romulan that's been torturing me said I have to choose a crew member to kill or watch as he kills the entire crew. And I don't know what to do. I already offered myself in place but he wouldn't accept it. What am I supposed to do?" Tony looked at Frigga, his face contorted with distress. He really needed help.

"Choose me," Frigga said. She held up her hand when Tony started to speak, "I know, my sons need me, but everyone here has people that need them. I am willing to sacrifice myself to see my sons and the crew make it out alive. As long as you promise to take care of Loki for me and get everyone else out of here alive. But especially take care of Loki. He needs someone there to support him."

Tony swallowed and nodded, "I promise. Thank you Frigga," He hugged her for just a moment then the door to the cell opened again. It was time again. Tony gripped Frigga's hand, like everything would be okay, and led her out of the cell.

* * *

Chekov sat on the floor in the cargo room where the three security officers watched over him. Sulu had gotten protective and given him a stern lecture as well as told him he could not be part of this mission. Then Sulu had gone off, giving Chekov the silent treatment. Chekov knew it was his fault and that he shouldn't have stowed away on the ship, but he wanted to help, and he wasn't just going let Sulu go on a likely suicide mission alone.

The ship shuddered and there was shouting. The security officers ran off to see what was going on. Chekov took this as his opportunity to check on Sulu and see if he could get a peek at what was going on. Chekov snuck to the bridge. His eyes widened when he saw that they were being pulled in by a large ship via tractor beam.

Sulu turned his chair and got a glimpse of Chekov. He bolted from the bridge and grabbed Chekov's arm, pulling him back to the cargo room over to the box Chekov had stowed away in. Sulu had Chekov get in the box, "Stay here and don't make any noise," Sulu ordered before closing the box and running back to the bridge.

Chekov covered his mouth with one hand, really worried about what was going on. Just a few minutes later people stormed aboard the ship, killing the original crew and the security officers before taking Sulu and Spock off the ship. They didn't notice Chekov, hiding in his box.

Chekov stayed where he was for a few hours, not moving an inch out of fear that he would be discovered. The ship would tremor every now and then and Chekov assumed that that was from the larger ship that had captured them. After what was likely a descent from the shaking someone boarded the ship.

Chekov watched through a crack in his box, which was wooden thanks to the traders that they'd made this failed deal with. He felt the ship take off then land maybe ten minutes later. He guessed that the ship had just been moved from their captor ship to an on planet hanger. He swallowed and waited as the person left.

After an hour of waiting and nothing happening Chekov broke his way out of his box, being as quiet as he could, still afraid that he'd be caught. He moved to the closest view window and looked out. Sure enough, he was in a massive hanger. There were Klingon ships, and Romulan ships, and some others that looked like mutants of several types of ships. Then he spotted her, intact and shinning in the dim light of the hanger. The Avenger. That's where he needed to get to.

* * *

Loki woke up with a jolt, beads of sweat forming on his forehead and he was panting. Something felt terribly wrong. He placed a hand over his heart, gripping his shirt. He quickly looked around and found that he was back in the cell. But Frigga was gone, "Where's Lieutenant Commander Frigga?" He asked.

The crew looked at each other, not sure what to tell him. That Tony had left with her and they hadn't come back and they were all pretty sure she was dead? Then Wanda spoke up, "The Romulan came in here and was going to kill me but Lieutenant Commander Frigga got in the way and he killed her instead. She sacrificed herself for me and for that I am eternally grateful," She said, a flawless white lie. The crew silently agreed that that was the best thing to have told Loki.

Loki swallowed, his face pale except for a faint tint of blue. His mother was dead. He hadn't even gotten to say goodbye. Tears stung his eyes and he let the tears roll down his cheeks. He trembled a little but quickly forced himself to pull together. He whipped his eyes and cheeks before making his expression emotionless, "Lieutenant Commander Frigga's sacrifice will be remembered."

Just as he said that the door to the cell opened and Lieutenant Sulu and Commander Spock were forced into the cell. Loki was surprised to see the two, "What happened? Are you okay? Was the Enterprise caught?" He asked slightly quickly.

"The Enterprise is fine. It would've been illogical to bring her out here without knowing what we were up against anyways," Spock answered calmly, brushing himself off like they totally hadn't just been kidnapped by a strange ship then thrown into a cell the majority of the Avenger crew had been sharing for the past three days.

"Right. Enterprise is fine," Sulu huffed slightly. He kept the fact that he hoped that Chekov was okay to himself, "We're okay for now but we can't say the same for the people that brought us here and the other members of our team. Three security officers and a science officer dead. They only spared us and we don't know why."

"Where is Captain Stark?" Spock asked, having noticed the captain of the Avenger wasn't with rest of the crew. This was slightly concerning. If these people were torturing those they captured there was codes that Tony might end up giving up due to intense torture.

"I don't know where Anthony is," Loki said with a sigh, running his hand through his hair, "I haven't seen him since we arrived here. They separated us," Loki pursed his lips. He really hoped that Tony was okay, "All I know is that there's a Romulan and a half human half Klingon named Leah who are working for another woman," Loki frowned, remembering the last thing the woman had said to him after proving just a fraction of her power. Kneel, before your queen.


	8. Who Are You?

**A/N: That moment when there's a scene you really need to see from a movie for reference but you can't find a clip of the scene so you have to get the movie. Also, that moment when you realize you previously forgot someone so decide to improvise.**

* * *

Tony winced as another punch landed on his cheek, knocking his head to the side and causing pain to flare up from all his other injuries. The Romulan was angry for some reason and had lost all finesse. Tony was kind of glad for that because this was a different kind of pain than before.

"Where is the Enterprise?!" The Romulan demanded to know. Like Tony even knew. Tony apparently didn't even know the next thing about his ship and crew, who they were, what the mission was. Why in the world would he know where the Enterprise was right this moment? "We discovered a ship with six Enterprise crew members onboard. What were they doing and where is the Enterprise?!" The Romulan paced around Tony.

"I. Don't. Know," Tony said, "They were probably looking for us. Probably disobeyed orders to do so. As for the Enterprise, she's a big ship. She wouldn't come within 10 lightyears of the Neutral Zone," Tony knew that was a lie. Kirk would bring the Enterprise right to the center of the Neutral Zone just to rescue them. That was Kirk for you.

The Romulan grabbed Tony's neck, choking him slightly. Tony struggled slightly then watched in horror as the Romulan finally noticed the fluorescent blue light showing through his torn shirt. Tony panicked in fear for his life. One wrong tug, one disconnection of his arc reactor and he was dead in seconds. Tony felt very vulnerable right now.

He flinched as what was left of his shirt was torn off; leaving his arc reactor very visible and the fact that he had absolutely no mobility left his arc reactor open and vulnerable. "Please, don't," He found it hard to speak. The Romulan tugged on his arc reactor a little and Tony's face contorted in pain. Then the Romulan figured out how to remove the arc reactor. He twisted the arc reactor and it popped loose. The Romulan looked at the arc reactor then yanked it; the cord attached pulling out from where it was attached. Tony could hear his heart pounding. He was going to die.

* * *

Loki paced back and forth in his little space in the cell. Spock was meditating, the damn Vulcan. Sulu looked concerned, though Loki didn't know why. Of course, out of everyone there Sulu was the only one that knew about Chevok.

Loki snapped his head towards the door at the sound of footsteps. He'd started paying very close attention to every single noise that he could. The door opened and Loki narrowed his eyes when he saw that it was Leah who had come.

"My Lady wishes to speak to you Laufeyson," Leah looked at her nails before looking at Loki with distaste. Loki walked over to her and allowed her to cuff him before leading him down the hall, after shutting the cell door. Loki was silent, knowing that the Leah he used to know was long gone and he had no chance of getting her back.

Leah left Loki standing in an empty room, facing the woman he remembered had healed his ribs and put him to sleep, "Who are you?" Loki spoke up after a couple minutes of silence. He took the silence as permission to speak so he asked the question that had been weighing on his mind.

"I told you, I am your queen. Is that not enough of an answer for you?" The woman asked. She didn't wait for him to respond though, "No, I suppose not. I am the Executioner, Goddess of shadows, Goddess of death," She hissed slightly when she said death, "I am Hela."

Loki paled and swallowed. He knew that anyone who claimed titles similar to and the name of the Norse goddess of death and the underworld was very dangerous. This was bad. He knew she was powerful and it seemed she was more powerful then he originally suspected, "What are you? You couldn't possibly be an actually goddess."

"I am many things. Genetically altered again and again until I had all the powers I deserved and was a goddess," Hela answered, "You however, are a real god, someone born a god. I know you have powers you haven't even begun to imagine. I know about the times you've shapeshifted, how you hide that you are Bolian to blend in. I know about the incident on the Caelestis."

"No… How do you know about that?!" Loki shouted, "Leah didn't know about any of that except for the shapeshifting. How do you know!" He was demanding now. She shouldn't be able to know any of that stuff about him. It was a secret kept from everyone except for the president of the United Federation of Planets and himself. The information on him was that classified. Odin was the only other one that knew he was Bolian and knew nothing else.

"I know very powerful people in very powerful places," Hela stated, stepping closer to Loki, "You're not really Bolian though, are you? You don't even look like one. Except for the blue," She grabbed his neck and somehow forced his true form to be revealed. His skin turned it's natural shade of blue and it's markings, that weren't very Bolian like, appeared. His eyes turned blood red, but they still held terror. "Hm, maybe you are a little Bolian. The color of your skin would certainly suggest so, and you're heart is on the right side of your body. I suppose you hid that from any doctors using your powers. You do have blue blood, though that could be Andorian. I doubt it though. You seem to believe that you're Bolian," Hela dug a nail into his neck slightly, drawing a few drops of blue blood.

Loki winced. But all he could do at the moment was look at her, though that wasn't what he wanted to do, "What do you want with me?" He asked, his voice softer than before because she had yet to let go of his neck. It was uncomfortable and worrisome. What if she killed him then was able to use genetic mutation with his DNA and develop his powers. That was a danger he never wanted to happen.

"I want you to join me. Stand by my side as I take over the world," Hela said with a grin as she released his neck, "And you are going to say yes. If you say no I will kill all of your crew, the two Enterprise crew members, and I'll save your precious captain for last, cutting him up into tiny pieces in just the right way to make him suffer the longest. If you don't say yes after that, then I will leave you alone, surrounded by fire, until there is nothing left of you but an empty husk. But I know you're going to say yes right now. Because you want your captain to stay alive. You care for him more than you'd like to admit. Because you know you can't care for him, or you'll be weak and he'll find out about what you've done. That's why if you say yes I'll keep him alive and won't let him be harmed again. To watch you suffer with the conflict of caring too much for him, until you kill him yourself. You will kill him."

Loki stared at Hela with wide eyes, his heart pounding. He was torn between letting Hela win and saying yes or watching her kill his crew, Spock, Sulu, and then mutilate Tony. He dropped to one knee, submission seen in the way he hung his head, "I will serve you," He choked out, the words burning his throat, "… my queen…"

Hela grinned, victory gleaming in her silver eyes. She walked out briskly, leaving Loki alone in the empty room. Loki let his other knee drop once Hela was gone and held his head in his hands. He sobbed. What did he just do?

* * *

Tony helplessly and hopelessly watched as the Romulan tossed his arc reactor to the side like it was nothing. He could feel the magnet inside his chest slowly losing power. He couldn't speak; his mouth and throat dry yet sticky from blood. He was dying. He had moments. And the Romulan didn't care one bit. It seemed like he'd worn out his usefulness.

"What have you done?!" A new voice entered. Tony had to force his head to flop back to see the woman that had spoken. Maybe he hadn't worn out his usefulness. Too late now he supposed. Tony closed his eyes, satisfied to hear a slap that must've been the woman slapping the Romulan. "We still need him. The god has sided with us. But he has to stay alive if we want to keep the god in our grips," The woman said. Tony jolted slightly when she did something. He felt weird. The magnet was barely running, just enough to keep him on the edge of life, "There. That will do until the god decides to kill him," She snapped her fingers and the chains around his hands snapped.

Tony fell to the side, onto the floor. His vision started to go blurry as the woman and the Romulan left the room. Tony could see the blue glow of his arc reactor through the haze. He reached towards it desperately. If he could just grab it and get it back into his chest then he'd be okay. Tony's arm and head hit the floor with a soft thump and he passed out.

* * *

Chekov poked his head around a box. He was currently sneaking his way from the ship he had been on to the Avenger, using whatever he could to hide from the people walking around. This was so very dangerous. But he needed to do this and help his friends.

Chekov spotted a clear stretch and ran as fast as he could to the Avenger. He hid in the shadows, close to being up against one of the Avenger's warp nacelles, but higher up. He looked up at the under belly of the ship and seriously wished he knew the Avenger's ships schematics. He spotted a way that looked like a way in and hurried over to it, having to climb onto the ship to get to it. Luckily he was able to get inside the ship without being noticed.

Chekov made his way to the shafts and started crawling through them, making his best guesses in an attempt to get to the bridge as quickly as he could. He shivered slightly, having the slight feeling that he might be being watched at one point. He really hoped not.

Chekov was relieved when he finally moved a panel, and crawled out onto the bridge. He crawled over to the main helm control panel and lay on his back so that he could access the inner working, "I am wery sorry," He whispered to the ship, feeling bad for hurting her.

But he had to do this. He rerouted some of the wiring so he could send a transmission to the Enterprise. It wasn't very good though, given his limited rescources. He knew he'd be discovered but it was the only way to get the range and transmission to work right and send without having the coordinates of the Enterprise.

Chekov made a face before connecting the last of the wires and transmitting his message, "USS Enterprise, this is Lieutenant Chekov. I have found the Avenger. The others were captured. I do not know where they are. My coordinates are two two seven, mark, five nine. My coordinates are two, two, seven, mark, five, nine," He repeated the coordinates twice, because of his accent, before ending the transmission.

Chekov dived back into the shafts to hide the best he could. If he got caught he was dead. But as soon as he was back in the shafts someone grabbed the back of his shirt collar and he squeaked as he was dragged to a different part of the shafts. When he was released he turned to see who had grabbed him and went pale, frightened.

The person in front of him was in a full body, black suit of some sort that looked like a panther. The fact that Chekov didn't know who it was behind the mask was what terrified him the most. But the person removed the mask, "Lieutenant Chekov I presume. I am Lieutenant Commander T'challa of the Avenger. Come with me if you don't want to die," He said before putting the mask back on and leading the way.

Chekov decided it was probably safest to follow T'challa. Not that he really had any other choice. As he followed T'challa he decided to ask about the suit T'challa had, "Thank you for helping me Lieutenant Commander. But, might I ask where your suit is from?" He hoped he wasn't intruding too much.

"For hundreds of years my people have passed down from generation to generation this suit and its name. Among my people, I am Black Panther, a guardian and protector. I was allowed to continue being Black Panther to protect the Avenger and her allies," T'challa answered calmly.

Chekov nodded. He wondered how old the suit was and if it was modified as technology advanced but decided just to be quiet. He just followed T'challa until the Lieutenant Commander had him leave the shafts. Chekov was surprised to find himself in the captain's quarters. He turned around to say something to T'challa but the Lieutenant Commander was already gone, having closed the panel behind him.

Chekov sighed and started looking around, wondering why T'challa had left him here. He stopped in front of what looked like a statue covered by a sheet. He wondered what it was and decided there probably wasn't too much harm in looking. He pulled off the sheet and was surprised by what he found.

Red and gold metal gleamed. Chekov found himself staring at some kind of full body metal armor. He touched it, even though he probably shouldn't have and jumped slightly when the suit seemed to come alive.

"Good day Lieutenant Chekov of the USS Enterprise," A british voice said through the suit, "I am Jarvis, Tony Stark's AI. I am currently synchronizing my information with the ship's as Tony had me offline until you turned me on," There was a pause, "It seems there is a situation and the crew of the Avenger has been kidnapped and are being held on this planet. Scanning now for Tony," Chekov just stared at the suit, "I have located where Tony is by finding his arc reactor. Please step inside the suit so that we may initiate a rescue of the Avenger's crew."

The suit opened up and Chekov decided to just do what he was told. Today was too crazy to be asking questions. Though, Chekov was surprised and thought he was going to be sick when he discovered that the suit not only walked, but flew. At least Jarvis the AI was piloting and not him.

* * *

"Captain, we're receiving a transmission from the Neutral Zone," Uhura announced. "Play it," Kirk said, moving to the edge of his seat. This could be exactly what they had been waiting for to find out the status of the Avenger.

"USS Enterprise, this is Lieutenant Chekov. I have found the Avenger. The others were captured. I do not know where they are. My coordinates are two two seven, mark, five nine. My coordinates are two, two, seven, mark, five, nine." The message was cut off after that and Kirk grinned. So that's where Chekov had run off to.

"Plot a course to the coordinates Chekov just gave us and notify Starfleet that we received a transmission from the Avenger notifying us that they have been captured. But make sure they don't know that we're involved in finding this out," Kirk ordered. It was time to rescue the Avenger and her crew.

* * *

Leah ran over to Hela, "My lady! Someone has sent a transmission from the Avenger and there is a metal suit breaking into the facility," Leah swallowed as she relayed her report, knowing that it probably sounded crazy. But it was true, given the fact that the facility had just shaken from a facility.

"Our top priority is getting the god out of here. Red Skull, get the captain. Leah, kill the rest of the prisoners," Hela ordered before running off to the room where Loki was. She grabbed a pair of heated hand cuffs and snapped them over his wrists before he realized what was going on.

Loki hissed as the heat from the cuffs burned him and he felt himself weaken. He tried protesting but was silenced as Hela dragged him to his feet and started dragging him towards the hanger. Loki trembled slightly, having no idea what was going on.

* * *

Chekov practically fell out of the suit when Jarvis opened the suit after Jarvis had used the suit's weapons to break into the cell they were holding Tony in. Chekov caught himself with his hands so he was on his hands and knees. Then he noticed Tony lying on his stomach on the ground, ashen and covered in blood. He quickly scrambled over to Tony and rolled him onto his back, "Captain Stark!" Chekov barely registered the cavity in Tony's chest in his panic and concern.

"Arc reactor," Tony mumbled, flopping his hand weakly in the direction of his arc reactor, "'ttach to bseplate," Tony's mumblings were barely making any sense, but Chekov got the general idea. Which was the lifesaving idea.

Chekov grabbed the glowy object that Tony had called an arc reactor. He took the cord and carefully attached it to the baseplate in the cavity in Tony's chest. He was relieved when Tony gasped and immediately seemed to be doing better so he set the arc reactor in place in the cavity.

"Coconut, it tastes like coconut. Thank god for coconut," Tony said, putting a hand on Chekov's shoulder and using that support to sit up, "Where's Loki," He asked. He wasn't entirely sure why he wanted to know where Loki was first but he was just going to roll with it.

"I-I don't know. You're AI Jarvis brought me here," Chekov explained, helping Tony sit up, "Maybe you should not put so much streess on your body sir," Chekov gave Tony the adorable Russian puppy eyes. His cute Russian accent helped too.

"I'm sorry Chekov. I need to find Loki. Help me get into the suit," Tony said. Chekov reluctantly helped Tony get into the suit and the suit closed up around Tony, "Jarvis run a scan for Comander Loki Laufeyson," Tony said, reading Jarvis's findings on the display, "There you are. Chekov, turn right and six doors down on your left is where they're keeping the Avenger crew. Go rescue them," Tony said before taking off towards the hanger to rescue Loki. "No one takes my stuff," He mumbled to himself.


	9. Rescue

_**I hate trying to write action scenes.**_ **Tony's suits are not exactly like the ones in the MCU. The numbers are mostly appearance and what order he has built them in.**

* * *

Chekov nearly tripped several times on his mad dash to get to where Tony had told him the Avengers crew were being kept, and hopefully Sulu and Spock as well. He was surprised by the lack of people around, but he supposed that was in his favor. Anything he could do to help retrieve his friends and the Avenger's crew.

Chekov slid to a stop slightly right in front of the sixth door on the left. Solid metal door, with only a small grate at the top for air. The handle looked old but seemed to be one sided. Chekov looked around for something to help him open the door. He spotted a piece of metal on the floor that seemed pretty sturdy and durable. He grabbed it then swung it hard on the handle. The handle ment at the base and Chekov swung it a few more times to get the metal bent more and to mess with the locking mechanisms inside. He tossed the piece of metal to the side before landing a solid kick right over the lock. Metal crunched and gave way, the door pushing open.

Sam, Bucky, and Steve were all ready for a fight, unsure what the metal on metal sound had been, but were surprised to see Chekov. Sulu jumped to his feet and captured the Russian puppy in a hug. Obviously, Sulu was glad to see that Chekov was okay, and that they were getting rescued to some extent.

Chekov was relieved to see that Sulu was okay, "I sent a transmission to the Enterprise. And Lieutenant Commander T'challa is aboard the Avenger. Ve should go quickly and get out of here," He urged everyone. They had to act quickly or they might all get captured again, or worse.

"What about Captain Stark and Commander Laufeyson?" Steve asked as he started ushering the crew out of the room in an order that would help keep them safe, were they to run into anyone while escaping. He also did a head count in case they lost anyone.

"Captain Stark vent to commander Laufeyson vith his metal suit. Vhich I still do not know vhat the suit it," Chekov answered, watching as the Avenger crew filed out of the cell. He noted that Sulu stayed by his side but didn't ask any questions about it. He was okay if Sulu stayed by his side. He felt a little safer that way.

Chekov helped lead the way towards where the Avenger was being kept. They abruptly stopped at the sound of crackling electricity. The disfigured Romulan was standing not too far in front of where the group now stood, holding an electricity whip. He lashed it out towards Chekov, meaning to electrocute him with it.

Time seemed to slow down for Pietro. He stepped forward, almost running. He grabbed the whip mid air and ran towards the Romulan. He could feel the tingling of electricity starting to race up his arm. He ran around the Romulan and held the whip tight as it electrocuted the Romulan. The Romulan fell to the ground, a burnt crisp of sorts, leaving a lightly scorched Pietro standing there, his hair standing on ends, "Bet you didn't see that coming," Pietro said weakly before falling over. He had sacrificed himself to save the others. He had died for them.

For everyone else it had just been a couple of seconds. Wanda's eyes widened and she screamed, that bond she had with her brother shattering instantaneously. She tried to run forward to him, but it was Spock he grabbed her and held her back. He lifted her off the ground and carried her, kicking and crying, as the group ran towards where the Avenger was. Spock had known that Pietro's body would still have electricity coursing through it and it could've killed or at least severely hurt Wanda. They had to leave his body behind. But his memory wouldn't be forgotten.

* * *

Loki was beginning to feel dizzy as Hela dragged him through the hanger towards what must be her ship. He stumbled and tripped, falling to his knees. Hela cursed and roughly dragged him in a way that forced him to stand. He fell once again when she let go from being startled and the walkway shaking.  
Tony landed hard on the walkway in front of that woman that had Loki. A fire burned in his eyes, hidden behind the metal helmet of his suit. He raised a hand, the repulser for that hand charging up with a squealing hum, "Step away from my first officer." His tone was sharp and didn't even hold any degree of warning. He would shoot. He was prepared to. For Loki.

Hela growled and pulled Loki in front of her. Like a shield. Loki was too weak to stop her and his green eyes were filled with panic. He didn't know who this man in the suit was. It almost sounded like Tony, but that couldn't be right, could it?

Tony cursed under his breath. He couldn't shoot with Loki in the way. That would defeat the purpose of this rescue. He slowly lowered his hand, powering down his repulsar. However the second Hela loosened her grip on Loki he dived forward, boot propulsors kicking in, and grabbed her by the neck and slammed her into the nearest wall. No one hurt his crew. No one hurt Loki. He lost himself as he choked her, tightening his grip to the point of nearly snapping her neck.

Loki stumbled over to Tony and grabbed his arm, obviously weak, "Don't… starfleet protocol…" It was obvious Loki was trying to keep Tony out of too much trouble. There was silence for the most part, except for fading footfalls as the Avenger's crew made it to the Avenger.

Tony took a deep breath and knocked Hela out before stepping back. He didn't say anything as he broke the cuffs around Loki's wrists then picked up the commander. He flew straight to the Avenger. In fact, he didn't step out of his armor until he had delivered Loki to the sick bay, "Jarvis, guard sick bay," He ordered before running to the bridge.

Loki started shivering as soon as his wrists were free as his body tried adjusting back to its normal temperature. He made no objection to Tony picking him up, he couldn't have even if he wanted to. He closed his eyes as Tony took him back to the Avenger. He didn't open them again till Tony set him down on a bed in sick bay. He was surprised by the way the suit moved when Tony got out of it. It was unlike anything he had seen before. He wanted to comment that Tony was acting emotionally but Tony had run out before he could speak. He sighed and closed his eyes again.

The bridge crew was already working on taking off when Tony came onto the bridge. They were so busy, Natasha didn't even comment Captain on board. Though Pepper did look towards him worriedly. Tony was barely holding together from the pain of his injuries. He sat at his chair and began giving orders, "Get into warp as soon as you can and get us out of the neutral zone. If you can locate the Enterprise and rendezvous with her." "YES CAPTAIN!" came the unanimous reply. Sulu and Chekov were actually on the bridge as well, helping Clint and Natasha. Spock had taken Loki's spot.

The Avenger lifted off from the spot where she had been docked and flew out of the hanger quickly. The crew were thankful the hangar bay doors were open. It was only moments before fighter ships took off after them, "Lieutenant Wilson," Tony commanded, "Fire at will! Pilots, get them off our tail."

The crew worked their hardest to take down and loose the fighters, but there were larger ships joining the fray and the little Miranda ship was getting rocked violently from fire. It looked like the enemies were trying to disable their engines. At least they had made it out of orbit of the planet and into space.

"Shields at 20%!" Sam reported quickly. "Captain, the engines are reaching critical. We are going to loose them," Spock spoke up. "Do whatever you can to keep us moving," Tony leaned back in his chair, feeling a little overwhelmed by all the chaos at once. And they were all alone.

"Captain! We're receiving a transmission!" Pepper looked over at Tony. Just then the Enterprise dropped out of warp above them and started firing on the enemies, "Looks like you guys could use some help," Kirk's voice came over the comms. Tony sighed in relief.

More enemy ships rose from the planet's surface and joined the fighting, "Broadcast to the whole ship," Tony said before giving his broadcast, "Avengers, we're currently in a tough fight but we've got the Enterprise by our side. I want you all to work your hardest and do whatever you can to keep us fighting. Let's go!"

The Avenger used fire cover from the Enterprise to weave around the battlefield and fire on enemy ships. But they all knew what was happening when a large ship, that rivaled in size with the Enterprise, rose from the surface.

"Enterprise, beam all of the Avenger crew except me over to the Enterprise and get out of here! Now!" Tony ordered. Kirk didn't even question Tony's request and beamed most of the Avenger's crew to the Enterprise. A lot of the crew that had been on the bridge was mad at Tony's request.

Loki had realized what was going on before the Enterprise could grab him and use his powers to block them from beaming him to the Enterprise. He forced himself to his feet, wobbling a bit. The suit came over to steady him. "I have to help Tony," He said, a little desperately. There were no questions left and the suit helped him to the bridge. He slid into the pilot's seat, ignoring Tony's shocked look, "Someone's got to help you save the day," He said simply.

Tony honestly wished Loki hadn't managed to stay behind and was safe on the Enterprise, but he wasn't going to fight it, "Alright, get as close as you can to the main ship and fire everything we have on the weakest spot," He said, getting up to go manage the tactical station.

The two worked together, weaving the Avenger through enemy fire towards the main ship. Loki was apparently really good at flying. Loki brought them as close as he could to the weakest point and Tony prepared to fire. But before he could an impulse wave crashed over the ship. Sparks scattered as some of the consoles exploded and Tony and Loki were thrown from their seats, both knocked unconscious.

* * *

Kirk was glad when Sulu, Chekov, and Spock ran onto the bridge and right away took their positions at their stations. He was however surprised to see the bridge crew from the Avenger fall into place at stations and start helping. He wasn't going to complain, he just wondered if they knew how to step back and take a break.

Kirk was really surprised to see the Avenger fly closer to this giant ship that had come up from the surface. It looked like they, or rather Tony was going to attack but then the giant enemy ship produced some sort of energy wave. The Enterprise was far enough away that they were only rocked slightly and the lights flickered for a moment. But when they looked to see where the Avenger was, it looked like the little Miranda ship was floating dead in space. Well. That was a problem.

* * *

Loki wasn't sure when he came to, but he was awoken by the emergency lights flashing. His vision was blurry at first, just red and black blobs. His head was pounding as he used the edge of a console to pull himself up so that he was standing. He blinked as his vision refocused. But he froze when he processed the scene.

Tony was tied up to one of the metal barriers on the bridge, still unconscious. Hela was walking around the bridge, somehow managing to get into the system and she was starting to initiate the self destruct. Terror set in for Loki when the counted started. Five minutes. Hela noticed Loki was awake and grinned, "Oh good. You're awake. Now you can watch as your precious ship and captain die in a heroic explosion," She approached Loki.

Loki moved back around the console, trying to keep some distance between himself and Hela, "Computer, deactivate destruct sequence!" He ordered, but his request was denied. Dang, this was one of those ships where only the captain could order the self destruct to stop. He panicked slightly, not sure what to do. Maybe if he could get to Tony and wake him up. But Hela seemed to be after him, likely to capture him again.

Loki dodged as she threw a spike at him. His heart rate spiked with even more panic at the fact that she was powerful enough to create a spike like that. He had absolutely no idea how to use his powers to defend himself from that. So he dodged the best he could. His dodging plan failed when one of the spikes, pierced his right shoulder. He fell to the ground, crying out in pain. He gasped, his vision blurring as he pulled the spike. He whimpered a little, scooting back despite the pain as Hela approached him.

Tony groaned as he came to. He must've hit his head after the console exploded. The bridge felt like it as spinning. A small tug told him that he was tied up. Well that was not good. His head rolled to the side and for a moment he saw Loki, injured on the ground and Hela after him. He closed his eyes, that annoying computer voice doing some sort of countdown. He groaned again, "Jarvis…" He rasped, "Protocol AI control…"

The countdown stopped and kind of out of nowhere the lights flickered back on, the ship returning to as functioning as it was going to be without the engineers patching her up. "AI control transfer complete," A British male voice spoke up. Tony was so relieved when Jarvis was able to replace the ship's AI. Jarvis was a much better AI, and a proper AI.

Hela was caught off guard by this change and Tony used it to his advantage. "Jarvis! Full attack on the enemy ships and let's test run the mark 4!" He commanded. Tony knew the mark 3 would be currently out of commission.

Loki watched with surprise as a near identical suit to the one he'd previously seen flew onto the bridge and flew into Hela, knocking her away from him. He quickly scrambled over to Tony while Hela was occupied with the suit, clutching his bleeding shoulder with one hand. He placed a hand over the chains that were keeping Tony tied to the metal rail and froze them just enough that he was able to break them with ease.

Tony rubbed his wrists when they were free and glanced at Loki. He was injured but right now what was more important was getting rid of Hela. He stood up and stretched his arms out. In that moment the suit flew back to him and he quickly suited up. He jumped into action, fighting with Hela till she beamed back to her ship. Tony wasn't letting her go that easily this time. He ignored Loki's shouts as he flew to the ship bay and had Jarvis open the doors and he flew out into space. He'd only have a few minutes of power but he'd give it all he got. He flew alongside the Avenger and found that Jarvis had found the perfect spot to fire on, but the Avenger didn't have quite enough fire power to land the final blow.

"Tony!" Loki shouted as Tony flew off the bridge. He slumped, using the metal barrier as the only thing keeping him sitting up. After a minute he pulled himself to his feet and slid into the Captain's chair. This computer AI seemed to be managing controlling the ship just fine. So he just sat there to watch whatever happened next.

The last plasma bolt fired from the Avenger fired on the weak spot, leaving an opening for Tony. He flew into position and took a deep breath. He'd only used the unibeam once before and it had left his arc reactor seriously drained. But he had no choice. He waited for it to power up and swallowed, before releasing the unibeam.

The whole battlefield went still and Loki and those on the bridge of the Enterprise watched as a bright beam pierced the darkness. A burst of flames came from where the beam hit the main enemy ship and then one by one other parts of the ship exploded. The Avenger and the Enterprise had won. The remaining enemy ships were fleeing. That was that. Someone had saved them.

* * *

The display flickered for a moment before it disappeared. A few gold and red pieces floated behind as the iron man suit floated, dead in space. Ice had already began covering the armor. Tony stared out at space, not even shivering from the cold. His oxygen was slipping away, body freezing. He closed his eyes. At least if he was going to die he had done it saving his crew, the Avenger, and Loki.

* * *

A black and green version of the mark 3 flew out into space like a bullet, gathering up the suit Tony was in before rocketing back to the Avenger. No one saw this, but it had happened. Perhaps it was magic. A miracle. Perhaps even a higher power. But all Loki cared was that Tony would survive. Though the both needed immediate medical attention. That was okay. Everything was okay.


	10. Recovering

**Oh, hey look, I've started listening to 24 hours by Jem on repeat again.** _ **I wonder why.**_

* * *

Time didn't seem to move correctly. For some time was going by quickly. For others, it moved so slowly. The Enterprise had captured the Avenger in her tractor beam and pulled her out of the neutral zone before anyone else could attack them. It was Chekov who had spotted the two faint life signs on the Avenger in the shuttle bay. They were beamed straight to sick bay without question.

Loki had to be treated for an oxygen deficiency and blood loose. Tony was in much worse condition and had to be treated for a number of things from exposure to space, as well as a concussion and again, an oxygen deficiency. Bruce had been so mad that the two had once again ended up deprived of oxygen. But he did his job and with the help of the Enterprise med bay staff, worked on fixing the two up. Bruce would have Doctor Strange with him, but Strange had opted for comforting Wanda, along with Vision.

Kirk had tried to convince the Avenger's crew to rest, and while some of them did, about half of them refused at point blank. All the engineers, most from science and the navigator and pilot had all returned to the Avenger to start repairing her. Kirk sighed in fursteration and sent a handful of his engineers to help them. The Enterprise hadn't taken on nearly as much damage as the Avenger had.

Kirk managed to sideline most communication with Starfleet while everyone was recovering. Though another ship was sent with parts that were needed to repair the Avenger with. Otherwise the Enterprise and Avenger floated side by side, somewhere far outside the neutral zone.

Loki had recovered fully after a couple days. Something about his biology that the doctors couldn't figure out. But he didn't leave sick bay, even after he had been told he could leave. He kept his distance, but he watched over Tony, who was still unconscious. They'd patched him up but the strain from exposure to space and that explosion had been a lot. Every minute Loki spent watching he considered letting his powers heal Tony. Just one touch was all it took. But he was too afraid of hurting Tony.

It was a long week before Tony finally woke up. He was groggy and disoriented. The first thing he noticed was that he wasn't on the Avenger. This was the Enterprise sick bay. The second thing he noticed was that Loki was there, a couple beds away from his. Just sitting there and reading what was probably reports. "Heeeey. Commander Laufeyson."

Loki looked up from his PADD with a slight jerk of his head. He was surprised that Tony had spoken as he wasn't aware the man had woken up. He set his PADD down and stood up, moving over to sit on the bed next to Tony. Now that Tony was awake, he felt a little better being close by. "How are you feeling Tony?" He asked, "No formalities please. We're off duty."

Tony pulled himself into a sitting position, grunting a little due to sore muscles, "Never better," He joked, cracking a smile. He didn't want the mood to get to dark and depressing, so he tried to lighten it up. Make people feel better. Though, he was extremely glad to still be alive. How he was still alive, he wasn't completely sure to be honest. Someone had probably beamed him back to the Enterprise. Yeah, that seemed logical.

Loki nodded. It was good to see that Tony was doing well enough to be making jokes like that, though he could tell Tony was sore, likely from being unconscious for a week. "I was able to assist your computer with getting the transporters working enough to beam you onboard the Avenger. You've been unconscious since then, though Doctor McCoy and Doctor Banner do say you will be okay. The crew has been working on repairing the Avenger. There is a lot that will need to be discussed, but for now you need to rest," Loki said, encouraging Tony to lay back down.

Tony huffed in disapproval, ending up laying down again because of Loki's encouragement, "I don't need to rest, I just woke up…" He trailed off because as soon as he'd gotten comfortable he was starting to fall asleep. In fact, he just passed out again. Unconscious meant healing. And now he needed sleep and rest to fully recover. Guess Loki was right.

Loki smiled ever so faintly when Tony passed out. He was glad that Tony was going to actually rest. It was good for him to be doing so. Loki sighed and brushed Tony's hair away from his face. He noted that it was usually shaggy, but getting a little longer and shaggy than usual. He hoped Tony wasn't going to try for fashionably long. He knew he kept his hair about shoulder length but it worked. It wouldn't work as well for Tony. Loki grabbed his PADD and settled back in to the reports he was reading.

* * *

The next couple of days passed without much going on. Tony slept most of the time. Loki stayed in the Enterprise sick bay, mostly just to watch over Tony. When Tony was awake for a while at one point, Loki gave him the rundown of what had happened since the fight. Tony was impressed by his crew and glad when he heard that the Avenger's main systems were online. Apparently JARVIS had startled a few people but ended up making work faster. Tony had programmed JARVIS to know how to run the ship and its programs. So recalibrating and such was quick. There were a few things left still getting fixed but the Avenger was ready for flight and minimal combat. Apparently, once she was stable enough for flight, they'd landed the Avenger on a class M planet with friendly locals. A particularly kind starfleet registered species.

Tony was finally getting tired of waking up to the sick bay. So he made a deal with Loki. If he let him go back to the Avenger, stay on the bridge for a few hours for the initial departure and such, then he'd be good and head back to his room for some more rest. Loki had reluctantly agreed to this, if only to get Tony to rest some more and not completely stop resting the way he should be.

Tony and Loki walked back to the bridge of the Avenger together. For the first time since the battle the crew of the Avenger were all together at their stations. There was still the obvious feeling of loss from the two that hadn't made it, but there was also a sense of determination to continue on.

"Captain and Commander on the bridge," Natasha said in her normal smooth russian accent when Loki and Tony walked onto the bridge. Loki went over to his station and settled in. Tony dropped down in his chair and looked around at the bridge. This was his crew now. "Sir, incoming transmission from Starfleet, putting them on screen," Pepper spoke up.

"Admiral Archer, to what do I owe this pleasure?" Tony asked when Admiral Archer appeared on screen, leaning back in his seat. He maintained a calm but not quite relaxed composure. He didn't know how this conversation was going to go so he wanted to be careful about how he acted and what he said. At least for now.

"Captain Stark," Admiral Archer said, "It's good to see your up and about. Hopefully you'll be more reasonable than Captain Kirk. We received reports on the events from most of your crew, and while the Enterprise jeopardize the mission we would like to thank you for your service in accomplishing this mission and we are sorry for the loss of lieutenant commander Frigga and Ensign Maximoff," Somehow he made it seem so bland, like it wasn't that big of a deal. "You are to return to Earth where you will wait for your next mission."

Tony looked taken a back, "I'm sorry?" He tilted his head to the side slightly, "I thought our mission was a five year mission with the Enterprise. Am I right?" He looked to the bridge crew and everyone nodded in agreement, "So, we don't need to head back if we already have a mission. Thanks for this chat Admiral, but we should really be leaving," Tony waved a hand and Pepper cut off the channel just as Admiral Archer was starting to protest. "Alright everyone, the Enterprise is ready. We're ready. Let's go," Tony said with a grin.

Natasha and Clint worked together and navigated the Avenger into the air and into space. They settled her right next to the Enterprise and after some discussing they were finally on their way for their five year mission. The actual five year mission. Not just a cover for something else. It was going to be a long five years with lots of adventures at this rate.

A couple hours later, just as promised Tony got up and left the bridge to head to his room. Loki got up and hurried after him, to make sure that he actually rested and didn't do anything else. Tony noticed Loki come up next to him and smiled, "I was going to have some dinner before getting some sleep. Would you care to join me?"

Loki nodded, "I would," He said, clasping his hands behind his back as they walked. It wasn't a long walk before they reached Tony's quarters and Tony let them in. Loki sat down and waited while Tony got something made really quickly. He glanced around and noted that the room hadn't been touched at all since everything that had happened. Maybe he would help Tony clean up while he was here.

Tony had the replicator make a couple of bowls of beef stew. It wasn't much but it was warm and hearty. He set one bowl down in front of Loki before sitting down with his own bowl. "I know it's not much, or anything fancy, but its good. Dig in," He said, taking a spoonful of stew and eating it. He hummed a little. He hadn't had beef stew in a while. This was good.

Loki tried a bite of the beef stew and hummed in delight. He had actually never had beef stew before. He found it surprisingly delicious, "This is wonderful Tony. Thank you for allowing me to have dinner with you," He smiled ever so softly. He really was enjoying this meal. Though that may have been partly due to the fact that he hadn't eaten since… he couldn't remember when he'd last eaten actually. Had they made him eat at all while he was on the Enterprise? Or had it been since before everything that happened.

Tony smiled happily when Loki said he enjoyed the stew. And when he saw Loki's soft and gentle smile, barely noticeable, well his heart might've just melted. He'd never seen Loki smile, not that he could remember, and he honestly thought it was one of the best things that he had ever seen. He wanted to see Loki smile more often. Heck, he wanted to wake up to that smile. "I'm glad you like it."

The rest of dinner was in mostly silence, and then Loki did actually help Tony clean up his room. Tony was glad Loki helped. It had been a mess before the Avenger had been attacked and it was even more of a mess now. It took them about half an hour to take care of everything. Loki was finding that he was getting tired. After work and good meal, the effects of having not slept in a while were starting to weigh on him.

"Thank you again for the meal," Loki said, clasping one of Tony's hands in his in thanks, "It has been wonderful, but I am feeling tired so I am going to retire to my quarters. Thank you Tony," He couldn't seem to express his gratitude for everything enough. Tony had done so much for him as he thought about it. Tony was certainly someone special.

"You're welcome Loki, and thank you for helping me get me room back in order," Tony smiled. His heart raced a little when Loki held his hand. He wasn't entirely sure, but it wasn't a bad thing. When Loki turned to leave he acted on his heart feelings and grabbed Loki's wrist. Loki looked at him with a slightly surprised look. He swallowed a little, "Wait, Loki, would you maybe, care to stay here, for at least a little while longer."

Loki was admittedly surprised when Tony grabbed his wrist and asked if he wanted to stay longer. It had caught him off guard. Something he hadn't been expecting. He wondered why Tony as asked that, "But you need to rest. I need to rest. Why would you like me to stay longer?" He asked, tilting his head to the side slightly.

Tony swallowed again, "Loki… I like you, a lot. And after everything that happened," Tony buried his head in his hands for a moment, "When I didn't know whether you were okay or not while we were captured I was terrified. When Chekov rescued me the first person I wanted to know where they were was you. When I saw that you were in pain I wanted to kill that woman that was hurting you. When she hurt you on the Avenger my only thoughts were on getting rid of her and saving you. I had to save you. Even if I didn't make it. I only slept on the Enterprise because I knew that you were close by and safe. Now, thinking that if I lose sight of you I might lose you is scaring me. Loki… please stay… for me."

Loki took Tony's hands gently and held them in his, "We may not have known each other long Tony, but I have noticed we have grown closer. Through every trial we endure we become a little closer," He said, "I will stay for you," He concluded. Even if he was reasoning with himself that it was just to get Tony to rest properly. But he knew he had other reasons. He liked Tony as well.

Tony sighed in relief and smiled, "Thank you Loki, I mean it," He said, "We could stay up for a little while, watch something, or anything like that. But I might crash and head to bed now, as long as I know you're here and okay. Feel free to have at any of my books, though most of them are engineering books so I don't know how interested in those you would be," He started rambling without intending to.

Loki placed a finger to Tony's lips to make him be quiet. Because he was rambling and Loki wanted to talk. Not that it was annoying. He actually didn't find it annoying, "I am tired as well Tony. You are right in wanting to head to bed in sleep. Might I remind you, we both need rest," He was going to try to rest at least. Hopefully Tony would be able to rest well at least. "I can sleep on the couch."

"No, no, you don't have to. I mean, I wouldn't mind if we slept in the same bed. Nothing intimate of course," Tony tried not to ramble again. He ran a hand through his hair, feeling a little awkward. Wow, he apparently really liked Loki if he was getting like this. Not like any of the flings he had had in the past. And certainly not like Pepper had been.

Tony was sweet, a lot sweeter than he often seemed. Loki found it nice to see this sweet awkward side of Tony. It made him better than just someone that often seemed pretentious. He grabbed Tony's hand and pulled him over to the bed in the room, "Not a word. I want you to rest, and I want you to rest well," He stated.

Tony smiled and hugged Loki. For someone who hid most of his emotions he was very kind. Slowly the settled in, back to back. Tony was out rather quickly, admittedly needing the sleep. Especially if he wanted to get back in his captain's chair anytime soon. Loki didn't even have any troubles falling asleep. Something about what Tony has said… no, it was probably nothing.

* * *

The hours passed and it was some time passed before Tony woke up. He felt well rested and much better than he had in a long time, before all of this, before he became captain. If he thought about it… he hadn't slept this well since… since the incident, the explosion. Tony sat up and shook his head slightly. He placed a hand over his arc reactor to hide the light peaking through the darkness. Those were not the events he wanted to be thinking about right now.

Tony glanced at Loki and smiled to see how peacefully the mysterious and amazing commander was sleeping. He doubted he'd be able to fall back asleep, but he'd let Loki sleep and rest more. Tony quietly and carefully got up and went about getting ready to take a shift on the bridge and be the captain like he was supposed. When he was ready he went over and kissed Loki's cheek. Loki was asleep, he wouldn't notice, right?

Loki blinked a little, opening his eyes slightly to see Tony's blurry form standing over him, having just placed a kiss on his cheek. He closed his eyes and smiled softly. Tony was just being sweet. Five more minutes of sleep then he'd get up as well. Just five more minutes…

Tony smiled, seeing that Loki hadn't minded the gesture and seemed to be going back to sleep, "Take as much time as you want off and get as much rest as you need," He told Loki quietly, moving his hair away from his face. He was very quiet as he walked out of the room, taking light and careful footsteps. With a content smile, he made his way to the bridge.


	11. 24 Hours

**A/N: What? You thought that after all that pain that everything would be okay and there would be fluffies. Haha, you must not know me. Because there's six more chapters of suffering in a row.**

* * *

Loki ran his hands through his hands through his hair as he paced back and forth. He had 24 hours to make amends and tie up any loose ends. There was no more turning back or running away. He was going to die. No one could stop it either.

Loki's hands dropped to his sides and his gaze fell to his PADD. Well at least with the thoughts running through his mind he now had somewhere to start. He sighed. He honestly had a lot he should do. But did he really want to do any of it? It was going to be hard, and emotional, which wasn't helpful in his current situation.

He sat down and pulled up a blank document file. His fingers hovered over the keyboard for a moment before he gave into what he needed to do and started typing. He started typing slow at first, not really sure how to put this, but slowly everything worked out and he figured something out.

 _I, Loki Laufeyson, of sound mind, do now write my last will and testament._

 _In the event of my death I appoint my friend, Commander S'chn T'gai Spock as the trustee and executor of my will. In the event that Commander Spock is unable to, I appoint my brother, Lieutenant Thor Odinson._

 _In the event of my death I wish for my remains, if there are any, to be burned and my ashes released into space. Please do not follow standard Starfleet protocol._

 _In the event of my death, I give all of my personal belongings to Captain Anthony Edward Stark, and only Captain Stark. In the event that Captain Stark is deceased or terminally ill with no chance of recovery, I wish for my belongings to be destroyed._

Satisfied with what he wrote he signed the document then saved it in a personal file that only those with the highest Starfleet clearance, himself, and those he gave clearance to could access. Signing the document had been a little hard and he wasn't entirely happy with his slightly shaky signature, but he didn't want to look at the document for any longer than he had to.

Loki leaned back in his chair and glanced around the room. It was slightly disorganized. He hadn't had a chance to clean up since Iconia. He best make everything neat and tidy as well as pack all his belongings. He wasn't going to be using this room again after all. Packing himself and having everything clean would just make things easier for everyone else.

Loki got up and started putting his belongings away in the boxes that they'd come in when he'd moved into these quarters. He didn't have much. Some clothes, a few other personal items. He'd never been one to get attached to objects. Once done he slide the boxes back under the bed where they would be out of his way.

With everything packed up and away, save it for his PADD which he left on the table Loki started cleaning, leaving the room spotless and just the way it had been in before he'd come along. He wanted no stain, spot, or even bacteria to prove that he had ever lived in these quarters.

Finished, the room looked bleak and barren now. It hadn't even looked this barren when Loki had first moved into the room. It was depressing. Which was all fine and well. He was going to die. He had no purpose anymore and may as well try to be useful by cleaning the room, even if now the empty room just made the sadness sink in.

He was going to die. The overwhelming sadness of that fact that was sinking in washed over him. He was a dead man walking. He had a set time for his death. There was nothing that could be done. This was his end. And he gave up.

He was a mistake, an abomination. He didn't belong in this universe. And now death had given him 24 hours to tie up any loose ends and make amends. But perhaps he should save death the waiting and end his life now. There really was no hope for him. Or at least not one that he would accept.

The desolate room was only marred by spots on the floor from where tears had fallen. However There was nearly nothing that could remove the feeling of grief or scent of pain that was left behind forevermore. A broken man set to die had once resided in this room. Nothing would ever be the same again.


	12. 18 Hours

Loki was glad for the lack of questions when he requested to be beamed to the Enterprise to talk with Commander Spock. It was likely that everyone thought he wanted to talk in person with Spock about something science related. But of course that was not his actual intention for wanting to speak with Spock. Science took up time after all. Time he didn't have left.

When he was beamed to the Enterprise Spock was already in the transporter room, waiting for him, "You wished to speak to me?" The Vulcan raised an eyebrow as he asked his question. Spock did not know of any reason for why Loki would want to speak with him. There wasn't anything of particular interest as the two ships had just resumed their five year mission.

Loki nodded, swallowing slightly. Yes, he was a bit on edge due to the situation he was currently in. "Yes, I did. If we could talk in private please," He requested, adding a small touch of urgency to his otherwise emotionless words. It was indeed important that he speak with Spock in private. He didn't want anyone else to over hear and perhaps even get the wrong idea.

Spock nodded once then gestured for Loki to follow him before walking out of the room. Loki followed and Spock led him to an empty meeting room. Spock sat down, placing his PADD on the table and waited for Loki to sit down. The Vulcan just found this more and more peculiar with every moment. He suspected there must be something going on. The abrupt request and need for privacy made it strange. Perhaps Loki simply wished to confide in him. At which he would listen.

Loki paced for a minute behind Spock, trying to get a grip on himself, before finally sitting next to the Vulcan, clasping his hands together, "Spock, you have been a very dear friend to me. I wish to give you the clearance codes to my personal files," He said, offering no immediate explanation. Well, because he obviously couldn't tell Spock the truth. They'd try to stop it from happening and no one could stop what was going to happen. No one at all.

Spock once again raised an eyebrow then slide his PADD over so Loki could put the codes in, "While it is logical to have someone you trust with access to these codes you speak of, I do not see the logic in doing so now with the level of concern you appear to have. Are you doing well my friend?" Yes, Spock was now concerned that there was something wrong with Loki. And he was confused to as why Loki was giving him the codes, when Tony had grown quite close to Loki and would've made for a more logical choice.

"I'm fine," Loki answered, maybe a little too quickly as he put in the codes, "I just don't want anything to happen to me without the proper preparations in place, especially after that close call. And since I have a little bit of down time I thought that now would be a good time to do so as I did not previously have anything set up," It was mostly all a lie, but it was also a really good one. Perhaps Loki was a little too much of a good lier.

"I understand," Spock said, taking his PADD back when Loki was done, "I hope you are truly well. Perhaps you should return to the Avenger and rest. I am sure Doctor McCoy and Doctor Banner will agree that rest will do you well. I can escort you to the transporter room if you wish," Spock offered.

"It's okay Commander Spock. I can find my way back to the transporter room just fine on my own. Thank you for the offer though, and thank you for meeting with me. I'll make sure to get some rest," Loki smiled reassuringly, though the smile did appear to be slightly forced. However he quickly left before Spock could ask more questions. He didn't want anymore questions asked than absolutely necessary. If he could avoid being questioned a lot then he would avoid it.

Loki ran a hand through his hair as he briskly walked back to the transporter room. Talking to Spock had been a success of sorts, depending on your view of what was a success in this situation. Now he had to prepare to talk to the next person. If he got far enough to talk to the next person on his mental list. Every second he was closer to killing himself. He just couldn't handle this.


	13. 13 Hours

After returning to the Avenger Loki had tried to mentally prepare himself for what he was going to do next. But doubt kept attacking him and now, as he walked down the halls of the Avenger, his hands trembled. He wasn't ready to face this. He wasn't ready for any of this. Everything had been fine and now it wasn't and he was running out of time.

He was almost glad when he turned a corner and literally ran into Thor. Normally he wouldn't be glad but Thor was exactly the person he had been looking for. He clasped his hands behind his back to try and hide the fact that his hands were trembling. At least the motion wasn't unusual. He was always being so formal and following protocols or whatever.

"Brother, I did not see you there. How are you? Have you been well?" Thor asked with that big smile of his. Loki felt sickeningly inferior being so close to Thor right now. He would've probably thrown up if it hadn't been days since he'd last eaten. Thor was always so happy and he had a good life right now. Loki, he was a mess, especially right now. He had always been a mess.

"I am well Thor. Simply thinking of mother," Loki said, while trying not to think about his mother's death. Not the wisest of decisions but it worked as a lie, "I am sorry brother," He started, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, "For leaving the family the way I did. I was upset and foolish at the time, but I am sorry now," He continued, pausing briefly to swallow a little, "Frigga was my mother just as much as she was yours. And you are all my family," Loki paused again, trying to get the right words out that he so terribly didn't want to say, "Please… please message father and tell him that I love him. I do not have the courage to do so myself."

Thor clasped Loki's shoulders a little too hard for his liking. Thor was always like that though, "I forgive you brother and I will message father. Though I wish I could help you gain the courage to do so yourself. I am sure he would like to hear from you again after all this time." Thor looked at Loki in a way that only a brother who truly cared could. It made Loki sick with guilt.

Loki nodded slightly and gave a small, tired smile, "Thank you brother. I must go rest now," He said. He lied about going to rest. Again actually. He wasn't going to go rest. He'd already stopped taking care of himself, well, in whatever ways he was taking care of himself. He didn't take care of himself very well in the first place. Why start now when his hours were just ticking away? What was the point? What was the point of still living if he was going to die in what, 13 hours now?

Loki turned to go when suddenly, and slightly painfully, Thor grabbed his arm, "Brother, are you sure you are well?" Thor asked with a concerned tone, "You are shaking," He pointed out. Loki mentally cursed himself. Of course Thor had noticed. While Thor could be an absolute blundering fool he was very observant, especially about Loki. He always had been. Why was he even surprised that Thor had noticed.

Loki smiled the best he could. He could pull an act, look like he was okay, but his smiles were still forced, "I'm fine Thor. Just a little cold," Loki said. He once again lied, and it almost looked like Thor might've not believed him. After all, when did he ever get cold? But by some miracle Thor let go of his arm and Loki quickly walked down the hall in the direction his quarters were. He almost ran that way just to get away from Thor. But despite going in that direction he wasn't going back to his quarters.


	14. 8 Hours

Loki stood very still by a view window in the small shuttle bay. There were only two ships in the shuttle bay and he'd already chosen the smaller, weaker shuttle to take him on his journey to death. He didn't want to be too much of a burden which was why he had chosen the smaller ship. He was already a burden by still being here. But it was kill himself or ghost off to his time and place of death. Eight hours to live...

As he looked out at the great expanse of space he felt a little sick. Out there in the great unknown were millions, billions, trillions of people all special and with and with a purpose. And then there was him. A mistake. An abomination. Worthless and completely without a purpose. He clenched a hand over his heart. Would dying hurt? He almost hoped so. He deserved to suffer for being a worthless mistake. He deserved to die painfully for the pain he caused others.

Memories started crept over him like clawing shadows and attacked him as merciless enemies, whose only purpose was to see him suffer more than how much he was already suffering emotionally. He tangled his hands in his hair, tugging at black waves, though his hair was more of curls now, as tears started to well up in his eyes.

 _He was a child at the Starfleet academy, there while Frigga talked to some of the staff, playing hide and seek with Thor and his friends. Not that they'd ever been Loki's friends but Thor had convinced them to let Loki play. He had been hiding for some time when Sif, Thor's friend that was Klingon walked in front of his hiding spot. She knew he was there but told Thor he wasn't around here. When he tried crawling out to tell Thor he was there Sif stepped on his hand, breaking it. He was stuck in his hiding spot._

A good memory tried peeking through the cloud of darkness but Loki was too consumed by the darkness of negativity to notice it. There was so much bad eating away at him. What was the point of there being any good? There couldn't possibly be any good because he was a freak.

 _After a half hour of silently whimpering where he'd been hidden, feet walking past every now and then, oblivious to his presence, a young man's head appeared in the space between the floor and the wall edge of the space Loki had been in, "Well, hello there," He held out his arms and helped Loki out by picking him up. He balanced Loki on his side, careful of Loki's hand that was broken, "I'm Doctor David McCoy, what's your name?" he asked. "Loki Odinson," Loki replied quietly. "Nice to meet you Loki," David said with a smile, "I'm going to take you to the medical center and fix your hand then we'll find your parents, okay?" Loki nodded. Daniel took Loki to the medical center and fixed his hand while one of the other doctors sent out a message out for Frigga to come to the medical center._

Loki had never seen Daniel again. Maybe if he had then things would've been different. Maybe. Though he highly doubted things would've actually been different. Nothing, no one, could change what was happening now. Loki gasped slightly and tears stung his eyes as another memory hit him hard.

 _Loki stared at Odin, shock and pain etched into his expression. his hands were blue though slowly fading to their normal color, "What am I?" He asked. "A boy that I thought could be my son. But you were always too different," Odin responded, his Klingon harshness showing through, "Half Bolian, and half something likely so monstrous that Starfleet couldn't tell us when they left you on our doorstep as a newborn. You were always different, even if you appeared as human as Frigga," Odin continued, "but-" Loki couldn't listen to anymore of what Odin had to say and he ran._

Loki clenched a fist over his heart. Words that Odin had spoken long ago bit at him harshly. He could never forget the words that were spoken in such a cruel way. Tears streaked his cheeks as he sobbed weakly. He was emotionally and physically drained of energy. He had already given up. That much was so very clear. Another memory hit him hard in this assault of pain.

 _Loki walked down the halls of the Caelestis, reading from his PADD on his way to engineering to look at some information. It was a simple request from engineering to have him look over some of the data they had gathered. Then there was shouting. He ran towards the shouting and found that one of the engineers had sustained serious burns from some wiring shorting out and had fallen over the railing to the floor below. Loki knelt next to the engineer and before he knew what was happening green misty tendrils were coming from his hands and healing the engineer but the more was healed the engineer started to freeze, ice spreading across his skin. Loki stumbled back, startled. What had he just done?_

The engineer hadn't made it and the incident had been marked as classified. No one ever said anything to him about what had happened. They just assigned him to a new ship and put him far away from the Caelestis. Loki hadn't meant to hurt the engineer but it had been because he was a monster. And now this was his end. The destruction of a monster. Even as good memories tried poking through the darkness he was already broken.


	15. 1 Hour

Loki walked to Tony's quarters, empty, expressionless, emotionless. He moved like a zombie, though could be mistaken as an emotionless Vulcan. He had one more thing to do before he went off to his death. One thing that he'd been putting off this entire time. But he couldn't wait any longer or he wouldn't ever do it. He had to do it. It only felt right. Because of who it involved. This was important.

Loki stepped into Tony's quarters, looking around, though he knew that Tony was currently on the bridge. He remembered waking up briefly when Tony left, roughly 28 hours ago. After a little searching Loki found a piece of paper and a pen. Tony wasn't very organized. The thought made him smile a little, but it didn't last long. He had something important he had to do. He sat down at Tony's table in the room and started writing a letter, keeping his handwriting as smooth as possible.

 _Dear Tony,_

 _I am sorry about this very sudden note but I do not have much time and it is important that I say something to you. By the time you read this note I will already be gone. I'll… I'll be dead. There was nothing you could've done anything. You couldn't have stopped me. You couldn't have stopped time. Because in the end it has all come down to time._

 _I will miss you, but this is my end. Planned and set in time. I am a mistake, a monster, an abomination. I do not belong on the Avenger. Or any other ship or planet for that matter. I do not deserve to be alive. And you deserve someone better than me. You deserve better than what I could've given you that wasn't pain. I love you but please just forget about me. Go find someone better. Lieutenant Pots would be good for you. She's kind and knows you better than I think I ever could have with what I am. Just forget about me._

 _Commander Spock has the access codes to my room and personal files on my PADD. That is where you will find my will. It's not much but it has everything necessary written out. Farewell Tony. You have been a better friend than I ever deserved. I hope you live long and well. I love you._

Loki signed his name at the bottom, his handwriting a mess by now from how much of an emotional wreck he was at this point. he tried to make sure that no tears got on the paper but a few dotted the page. It made the whole letter look like a mess. He felt sick. He couldn't pull himself together enough for one farewell letter. He hated that.

He set the pen down then stood up, wiping his eyes. He didn't notice as the pen rolled of the table and clattered onto the floor. He quickly walked to the shuttle bay, avoiding contact with anyone. He just couldn't bring himself to look at anyone of these special crew members, knowing that he was a monster. He boarded the shuttle he'd chosen and was gone.


	16. Time

Tony rubbed his eyes and yawned. He'd been up for over twenty four hours on the bridge. He was running on just coffee at this point. Normally when he was working on a project he could stay up for a few days, but this was boring and he didn't have much to do. He glanced at the empty science station and sighed. There was a part of him was wishing that Loki was on the bridge but he'd told Loki to take off as much time as he needed. So if Loki still needed time then he'd let him have it. It was important that Loki got the rest he needed. Tony cared about him.

He perked up slightly when he heard the bridge door swoosh open, sincerely hoping that Loki had decided to join him on the bridge. But he was surprised, and admittedly slightly disappointed, to see Commander Spock and Thor walk onto the bridge, "Commander Spock, Lieutenant Odinson, is everything alright?" He asked. He found the duo a strange pair to walk in at the same time. Though it could be entirely coincidental.

"We do not believe so," Spock answered, speaking first and in his usual Vulcan tone, "Approximately 17 hours ago Commander Laufeyson came to me, requesting for me to have the clearance codes to his personal files. He provided logical reasoning but I have come to believe that his reasoning was in fact a lie. Or at least a partial lie"

"He came to me as well," Thor spoke up, "Almost 12 hours ago my brother came to me, apologizing for when he left the family. He also told me to message father. It was very uncharacteristic of him to do so and he was shaking when he talked to me. I too believe that he told me at least one partial lie. It pains me to think that my brother would so willingly lie to us."

Tony swallowed slightly, obvious concern for Loki building. His expression made that much clear, "Last time I saw him, he was mostly asleep when I left for the bridge 28 hours ago," Tony remembered the last time he'd seen Loki. He'd gotten ready then kissed Loki's cheek. He still remembered the smile on Loki's face as he left, "What do you think is wrong?" He asked Spock and Thor.

Spock glanced at Thor warily then spoke, "We believe, that Commander Laufeyson may have plans to take his own life," Spock said as carefully as he could. It was a sensitive topic. And especially since this was Tony he was talking to and Tony had developed a close relationship with Loki. So he was as cautious as he could be.

Tony felt his heart stop and all the noise around him seemingly disappeared, except for the hum of his arc reactor. Loki… no, why? Everything had been fine. Loki hadn't shown signs of being suicidal. They had spent the night together, or well, night as in last time he'd slept. And now Loki could be thinking about taking his own life. All the emotions were overwhelming, "Jarvis," He said quietly, barely a whisper. His voice didn't seem to want to work anymore than that. He just… was in shock.

"24 hours ago Commander Laufeyson awoke from what I can only describe as a nightmare and quickly ran from your quarters to his. 15 minutes ago he left a note in your quarters. 10 minutes ago he bypassed authorization requirements and left the Avenger via shuttlecraft," The AI responded.

Tony didn't wait for Jarvis to finish before he bolted, "Barton! Romanoff! Follow Loki's shuttle!" He shouted as he ran off the bridge. He ran to his quarters as fast as he could ignoring the pain in his chest. Oh, yes, there was a lot of pain in his chest. Both physical pain and emotional pain. Why hadn't anyone noticed what was going on with Loki till now? Why hadn't Jarvis notified him sooner? He was so worried now and it was literally killing him.

He ran into his room and immediately say the note. He snatched it and as he read over it his heart shattered into lots of little pieces. Tears stung his eyes but he didn't really notice. Why was Loki doing this? Why would he have come to the conclusion to take his own life? The only thing that made sense was that if Loki wanted to actually go through with it, of course he left the ship. Tony wasn't entirely sure what to do now.

Spock and Thor were standing by the door and when Tony looked up Spock spoke up, "I found a will in Commander Laufeyson's personal files. He has left all his belongings to you," Spock could tell from the grief stricken expression on Tony's face what the note said. He didn't want to hurt Tony more, but he said what he had to say.

"I'm not letting him die. He has to still be alive," Tony said, a slight tremble in his voice as he forced the words out. He couldn't give up on the hope that Loki was going to hold up just long enough if not longer for a chance of rescue. He had to get Loki back. He just had to. He wasn't going to let Loki kill himself. He wasn't going to let Loki leave like this.

"Captain, we've found the shuttle Commander Laufeyson took. He's landed on an uninhabited rocky planet. We can start descending now and we'll land in ten minutes," Barton's voice rang out through the comm in the room. His logic behind descending was so that the whole crew would be there to rescue Loki. To show that everyone had come and everyone wanted Loki to keep on living.

"That's not fast enough! Prepare the transporter room to beam me down to Loki's location!" Tony shouted in response. He was so glad he didn't have to push any buttons because he'd replaced the original ship's AI with Jarvis. Tony bolted out of the room and ran, as fast as he could to the transporter room. He had to get to Loki. And fast.

* * *

Loki pursed his lips, running his hands through his already messy hair. His eyes were red from crying and there were light bags under his eyes from the last twenty three and fifty five minutes of no sleep and lots of stress. Yes, he was clearly an absolute mess. But no one was going to do anything about it except kill him. He landed the shuttle he'd taken and got out, shuffling along. He really had no energy left.

The three beings that had summoned him to his death were already waiting and somehow, by some power or another, he immediately knew what they were. He walked to them, till he was a few feet away then fell to his knees, hanging his head in pure submission. He kept his eyes on the ground. A few dry tears stung his eyes. He was a monster called to die.

"The abomination has come to face his sentence as he was summoned. This will be noted as the one thing in life he has done that was not a mistake. For even the breaths he takes are a mistake," One of the beings spoke, laying their hand on Loki's head. There was no mercy shown. Every word, every movement was cold, and held a tone that confirmed he was to die.

Another being stepped forward, "Long ago we came from our universe where we are alone with powers unimaginable to this universe. More powerful than the scrap you have. When we came we learned of the monsters this universe held and returned to our own universe, remaining where we are alone. But there was one that could not stay alone with our people and caused a child, half from this universe, half from ours to be made. A monster, an abomination. The mistake that never should have been. Now we have found you and sentence you to death."

The first being moved their hand from Loki's head than grabbed his neck in one sudden movement, choking him. Loki gasped for air and placed his hand on the being's wrist, though his hand quickly slipped because of how weak he was at the moment. He choked and tried to gasp and inhale but he could feel his life slowly slipping away as one of the beings counted down his last seconds to the 24 hour mark.

5

Blackness started creeping around at the edges of Loki's vision. His mind was racing in realization and pain. He was dying. He was actually dying. He was going to die the painful slow death he thought he had deserved for being what he was, and he was absolutely terrified. He hadn't realized that dying with be this terrifying. But here he was. He was actually dying.

4

He stopped struggling to breath. What was the point in struggling anymore. While it had been his initial reaction to struggle to live, he was supposed to die. This was his execution. Why fight it anymore. Accepting it was maybe just easier. The last of his life was slipping away. All thoughts emptied from his mind except for one very important thought.

3

His shoulders relaxed in a slumping motion. In fact his whole body went slack. No more fighting to live. No more thinking about the next breath he needed. No more worrying. No more bothering people with the mistake that he was. Just, nothing anymore. No more life. His last thought, a small thought, wordlessly escaped his lips. _I love you Tony_

2

1

"Stop!"

The sudden interruption startled the being enough that it released Loki's neck and by some miracle he found air was rushing back into his lungs. He gasped, blinking as he tried to regain his vision. He… he was alive?! How… why... After a minute he could finally see straight enough to realize who it was that had shouted. It was Tony. Tony had come to save him. He couldn't believe this

Loki scrambled to his feet the best he could and ran, or rather stumbled, over to Tony. He collapsed into Tony's arms and could sense the relief that he was okay that Tony felt, "I thought you were going to kill yourself. We all thought you were going to kill yourself," Tony mumbled, holding Loki tight and close. He was terrified of losing Loki. And after what he had seen….

Loki looked up to see the Avenger descending slowly through the atmosphere. Everyone had come for him. But most importantly Tony. Even after his note. He had friends, a family. He meant something to people. He was important. That realization hit him and suddenly all the creeping darkness in his mind was gone. Tony had come to save him. He clung to Tony like he was literally his only lifeline.

"What is the meaning of this?" One of the beings demanded to know. Tony and Loki turned to face the beings and Loki swallowed. He'd exceeded the 24 hours they'd given him and he didn't know what was going to happen now. He shrunk back slightly, trying to hide behind Tony. He was honestly terrified. He didn't want to die now. He had Tony.

"I'll tell you what the meaning of this is," Tony started, getting kind of riled up, "You just tried killing my best friend and I couldn't let that happen. Not after the thought of him dying any way scared the- ngh" Tony suddenly cut off. He placed a hand over his chest, grimacing. He brushed off Loki's look of concern for the moment. He mentally cursed himself. Now was not the time for the palladium to be effecting him so much like this.

Palladium. It was the only thing that he had found that was able to keep the arc reactor running. But it had started to rapidly erode and he had to frequently replace the piece powering the reactor. He'd looked for some other material, able to hold up and power the reactor like palladium, but he hadn't been able to find anything. Sure, the doctors could give him stuff to lower the symptoms, but there was nothing they could do to get rid of it. He'd already been told that without all this experimental stuff that they couldn't remove the shrapnel in his chest. So he kept the arc reactor in his chest that powered the magnet that kept him alive. But the one thing keeping him alive, was also slowly killing him. He wasn't going to tell anyone this though. He was just going to keep fighting as long as he could with his own methods. Though, the whole mess with his chest made it hard to run without pain and sometimes when he got overly upset it hurt.

Loki didn't let Tony just brush him off like that. He cupped Tony's face with one hand, "Tony, look at me. What's wrong? Do we need to get Doctor Banner and Doctor McCoy? Please tell me what's wrong," He asked, almost begged, speaking light and softly. It was obvious he cared about Tony's well being. He just cared about Tony, a lot. His face showed clear concern.

Tony placed his hand over Loki's then turned his head slightly and kissed the palm of his hand softly in a reassuring gesture, "I'm fine. Just a little worn out from all the running I had to do to get you back. I think I've had more than enough exercise for the month because of you," He joked to try and lighten the mood. He smiled softly, really trying to convince Loki that everything was okay. He didn't want to worry Loki, especially with the mess they were currently dealing with. But more so, he didn't want to worry Loki because he cared.

Loki sighed a little and decided to let it go for now. He would check to make sure Tony was actually okay later, once they were alone. Then he could grill Tony and make him tell him the truth. He paused for a moment and quickly looked over at the mysterious beings. He swallowed nervously when he saw that they were talking to each other in hushed tones.

"Because you have found the thing we desire most, you will be allowed to live Laufeyson," The one that hadn't spoken yet said after a silent minute. "We are part of the Megan, a race that belongs to a different universe where we are the only race. We once came to this universe and tried seeking a cure to the loneliness we felt many years ago, back when earth was young. But the humans of that time grew to hate us for our powers. So we left and returned to our universe, not before we had suffered deaths of many of our people. In the less distant past one of our own tried once again to find a way to get rid of the loneliness and came to this universe. They found the Bolians and a child of our two universes came into existence," They paused for a moment, letting the information sink in, particularly for Loki, before continuing, "You, Loki Laufeyson, are this child. Many of our people thought you were an abomination. A mistake with access to part of the power in our universe. The magic that allowed us to manipulate the very fabrics of our reality. You were thought to be an abomination because you were part of a universe thought to be filled with monsters and part of our universe. But we see now that not all in this universe are monsters and that there are good people here. We were the monsters for thinking there was not any good in this universes," The being finished explaining but they had one more question, "Please tell us, what is it that you have with this human that banishes the loneliness?"

Loki looked at Tony with a thoughtful look then took Tony's hand and faced the Megan again, "It's called friendship. A lot of beings in this universe have it. But what's even more powerful that we have with each other and again many other people have, is this special connection called love," He smiled, hiding his nervous and confused emotions well. He gripped Tony's hand a bit tightly

The Megan looked at each other as if they hadn't really thought if it that way before then out of nowhere they quickly disappeared. Tony and Loki soon realized that the reason for their disappearance was that Thor and Spock were coming running towards them. Though Thor and Spock never saw any of the Megan.

Thor and Spock stopped in front of Tony and Loki, "Commander Laufeyson, I understand that you may be currently struggling, but I must implore that you do not ever again attempt to take your own life," Spock said quickly, wanting to help his friend and make sure that he would be okay or at least have the help that he needed.

Loki was startled as he was pulled into a hug by Thor, "Wait? You guys thought that I was going to…? Oh dear. I am so terribly sorry," Loki rubbed his face as he fully realized what they must've been thinking, "I see now that my actions may have led you to that conclusion, but I assure you, that was not the case. I was being threatened, but the situation has been neutralized and I am fine." He explained.

Spock was satisfied with the answer for now but would probably definitely make sure that Loki wrote a report on the incident, even if it did end up marked as classified. A report was still a report and someone would know what had happened. Thor was just glad that Loki was okay. He cared for his brother. That was obvious. And then there was Tony.

Tony had ended up kind of dazed as he processed the new information. He was gripping Loki's hand almost like he was afraid it was all a lie and they were going to come back and take Loki from him. To be honest, Loki was the only reason he was pushing to extend his life at all. If he didn't have Loki then he would probably just let the palladium kill him.

Loki nudged Tony slightly, "Let's head back to the ship, okay?" He said, wanting to get back where he could hide in a corner with Tony and they could talk about everything that had happened. Because after all of that they more than definitely needed to talk, even if just to make sure they were both okay and to help each other process the new information.

Tony nodded and smiled. Everything would be okay in the end no matter what happened. All the time since leaving Earth had proved that. Even though yes, he was going to die. At least Loki would be okay, and it wouldn't be from a brutal death. He'd just spend whatever time he had with Loki and then peacefully pass away. At least as peacefully as one could from dying of poisoning. The four walked back to the Avenger in silence. Everything would be okay for now.


End file.
